eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE JAIPUR,LATECITY DECEMBER22,2024 12+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA THE WORLD SPOTLIGHT ON SPYWARE COMPANIES US court holds Israeli company NSO liable for targeting WhatsApp users ATTACK ON GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKET KILLS 5, INJURES 200 Hearing on damages NSO owes to WhatsApp to begin in March 16 SOLDIERS KILLED, dress the rights of individuals 8 INJURED IN TERROR VENKAT ANANTH whose phones were hacked. Friday’s ruling came five ATTACK IN PAK’S KPK BENGALURU, DECEMBER 21 years after the Meta-owned US: FIRST MEET WITH IN A significant ruling on Friday, WhatsApp sued the NSO Group SYRIA REBEL LEADER a United States District Court in the US District Court of North California in October 2019. In its heldIsraelitechnologycompany VERY PRODUCTIVE Assam alerts: N-E insurgents involved in rhino poaching to fund terror MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21 NORTH-EAST insurgent groups have been providing marksmen and weapons for rhino poaching in exchange for a cut from the proceeds of illegal sale of rhino horns. This money is used to fundterroractivityandstockpile arms and ammunition. TheSundayExpresshaslearnt that this issue was discussed recentlybyAssamPolicewithsenior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The horn of an Indian rhino weighs0.4-3kgandcanfetchup to USD 20,000 per kg in the international black market. International rhino horn trade was banned in 1977 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). A source in the MHA said the Assam Police, while making a presentation at a two-day antiterror conference in New Delhi last month, flagged six key sourcesofterrorfunding:kidnapping and extortion, rhino poaching,narco-trafficking,timberand liquor smuggling, arms smuggling and training facilities, and tax collection. “Information has been received that insurgent groups,including those based in Manipur and Nagaland, are supplying arms and shooters for poaching and they have been receiving a portion of the sale amount… They are also providing help to facilitate transportationand sale of rhino horns,” the source said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK JUSTICE LOKUR APPOINTED HEAD OF UN INTERNAL JUSTICE COUNCIL PAGE 6 NSO Group liable for targeting the devices of 1,400 WhatsApp users.NSOGroupisthemakerof the Pegasus spyware allegedly used by its government clients to infect the devices of several WhatsApp users, including activists, journalists, and other members of the civil society. The case now moves the de- Meta-owned WhatsApp had sued NSO Group in 2019 liberations to determine damages NSO owes WhatsApp, which is set to begin on March 3, 2025, in Oakland, California. The ruling, however, does not ad- ruling, the court concluded that inexploitingabuginWhatsApp, NSOGrouphadviolatedsections of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a federal cybersecuritylawthatcriminalises unauthorised access to computers, networks and other digital information, and a similar state CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 With 300 users targeted in India, why ruling may rekindle tapping debate SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21 NOW THAT a US court has indictedNSOGroupandheld it liable for damages, this mayhave an impact on the processes in the Indian courts and reopen the debate on state surveillance and privacy of individuals in Parliament. Of the 1,400 WhatsApp users targeted worldwide, it was reported in 2021 that Pegasus was used on more than 300 Indian mobilenumbers,including that of two serving ministers in the Narendra Modi government, three Opposition leaders, one constitutional CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Govt amends poll rules to restrict public inspection of electronic records Congress demands reversal of decision, says bid to keep public in dark DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21 THE UNION Government Friday amended the Conduct of Election Rules to limit public inspection of election papers to only those documents specified in the provisions. This amendment, sources in the government told The Sunday Express, would effectively clarify that electronic footage of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NOW, ONLY election papers mentioned under different provisions of the Conduct of Election Rules (like nomination papers) would be open to public scrutiny. Papers available to candidates, like Form 17C, continue to remain available to them. The tweak would effectively exclude CCTV footage or any electronic record of the poll process from public inspection. Bihar IAS officer lists father’s books on top for panchayat libraries SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, DECEMBER 21 FOR BIHAR IAS officer Mihir Kumar Singh, his father’s is the last word — literally. The former Panchayati Raj Additional Chief Secretary has landedthestategovernmentina spotbyrecommending36books written by his father Jagdish Prasad Singh for panchayat libraries across the state. Only ‘Rashtrakavi’ Ramdhari Singh CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Fadnavis retains Home, Ajit Finance, Shinde gets Urban Devt and Housing THE BJP-LED Mahayuti government in Maharashtra announced the portfolios of ministers Saturday, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis keeping Home, a ministry that Eknath Shinde, his predecessor and now Deputy CM, was keen to have. Fadnavis also kept Energy (excluding Renewable Energy); Law & Judiciary; General Administration Department; Information & Publicity; and Departments/Subjectsnotallotted to any other minister. ShivSenaleaderShinde,who was eyeing Home, which Fadnavis had as Deputy CM in the previous government, got three portfolios: Urban Development; Housing; and Public Works (Public Enterprises). The other Deputy CM, NCP chief Ajit Pawar, will keep Finance & Planning, and also handle State Excise. The portfolio allocation came hours after the weeklong Winter Session of the state Assembly concluded here. And days after the Fadnavis Government inducted 39 ministers on December 15, although with a rider — their tenure will be for two-and-half years, and their continuance will depend on a review. Many in the ruling alliance feel while the review will fix accountabilityand putpressureon the ministers to perform after the impressive mandate in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lower GST on food delivery, insurance deferred, many rates ED request for sanction to move on popcorn new row against Kejriwal gets L-G’s nod PM IN KUWAIT Prime Minister Narendra Modi being received by Kuwait Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah in Kuwait City on Saturday. PM Modi is on a two-day visit to the Gulf country. PTI REPORT, PAGE6 AANCHAL MAGAZINE JAISALMER, DECEMBER 21 FormerCM'splea againstchargesheet cognizanceis alreadypending EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21 Bihar govt aims to provide books to all panchayat libraries. Ashutosh Kumar Pandey Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and state BJP chief and minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule in Nagpur on Saturday. PTI NAGPUR, DECEMBER 21 Whatthe tweak ● does 4-PAGE PULLOUT MAHARASHTRA PORTFOLIOS ANNOUNCED ALOK DESHPANE E EXPLAINED PAGE 8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM At SCREEN Live, the Deol brothers discuss their blockbuster year, family legacy, camps in Bollywood DELHILTGOVERNORVKSaxena has recommended that the EnforcementDirectorate(ED)be granted sanction to prosecute former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalintheexcisepolicycase, officials of the Lt Governor’s Secretariat said Saturday. Arvind Kejriwal with AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Avadh Ojha in New Delhi, Saturday. PTI Granted bail by the Supreme Court in separate cases filed by theEDandCBIrelatingtotheexcise policy, Kejriwal, who leads the ruling AAP in Delhi, has a plea pending before the Delhi High Court in which he has sought quashing of a trial court orderthattookcognizanceof the ED chargesheet without prior sanction for his prosecution. Reacting to the ED move to now obtain prosecution sanction,the AAPcalleditanattempt to“politicallymalign”itsgovernment. “The so-called liquor scam investigation has dragged on for twoyears,harassing500people, filing 50,000 pages of documents, and conducting over 250 raids, and not a single penny has CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE GOODS AND Services Tax (GST)Councilinits55thmeeting held in Jaisalmer Saturday deferred a decision to lower the tax rate on health and life insurance premiums, and food delivery chargesof e-commerceaggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato. It also discussed inclusion of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) under GST, but deferred a decision since most states were not in favouroflosingtheirrighttotaxit. What, however, caught attention was the clarification the Council offered onwhydifferent varieties of popcorn i.e., regular, salted and spiced, and caramelised,carrydifferentrates Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Pankaj Chaudhary in Jaisalmer. PTI RELATED,P9 of GST. This led to some political backlash too, with Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh terming it as “absolutely unbelievable” and “sheer madness”. TheCouncildiscussedthetax rate on ready-to-eat popcorn, which is mixed with salt and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Forged letter’, no culprit: Years on, Kerala woman’s death in UAE a mystery PAGE 1 ANCHOR SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DECEMBER 21 ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2005, Smitha George, then 25, newly married and in a foreign land, vanished without atrace.But shepurportedlyleftbehindaletterintheflat in Dubai from where she went missing, saying she was leaving tojoinherlover.Adecadelater,in February 2015, with no trace of Smitha,theKeralaPolicearrested her husband Valiyaparambil Antony,accusinghimofallegedly forging the letter and allegedly torturingSmithaandcausingher disappearance. Now, almost another decade later, comes another twist: last month, a court in Kochi acquitted Antony of both the charges against him. The CBI court also took note of aletterfromthe UAE —sent in July this year in response to the CBI’s Letter Rogatory — which said that an unidentified body of a woman had been found in a Sharjah hospital morgue on September 6, 2006, a year after Smitha went missing. The UAE letter said Smitha’s family had been shown photographs of the body and they had “confirmed 100%” that it was hers. The letter Smitha George went missing in 2005; her husband V Antony was cleared of all charges by a Kerala court in November also said forensic tests conductedonthebody—whichwas buried on November 22, 2006 — had confirmed that the person died of “natural” causes. “This report clears the mystery since the missing victim did not die on September 3, 2005,” the court of the chief judicial magistrate court in Kochi said while clearing Antony, who had come out on bail after 80 days in jail. But the questions remained. Jaipur Where was Smitha between September3,2005, whenshe reportedly went missing, and September 6, 2006, when her body turned up in a morgue in Sharjah, around 30 km from Dubai? If the body in the morgue wasindeedhers,howdidshedie? And was there another person in Antony and Smitha’s marriage? A body in a morgue Nineteen years ago, on September 1, 2005, Smitha flew to Dubai on a 55-day visa to join her husband Antony, then workedwithamarineengineering firm in Dubai. On September 5, Antony complained to the India consulate in Dubai that his wife had gone missing two days ago, on September 3. He also claimed to have recovered the letter in which she purportedly said she was leaving him for her lover. Police said he also sent a copy of the letter to Smitha’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2