The Editorial Page: In war on Iran, Israel knows what it wants — US does not 8 TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2026 JournALiSm of CourAgE AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES ₹5.00 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 lA NINE-JUDGE Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to commence the hearing on the contentious issue of defining the word “industry” under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. TRACk THIS AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrESS.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY CONTEST FOR 11 RAJYA SABHA SEATS ACROSS THREE STATES Setback for Opp: No-shows, cross-vote in Bihar, Odisha Liz Mathew New Delhi, March 16 A FIVE-MEMBER expert committee that the Gujarat governmentsetupinFebruary2025to assess the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is expected to submit its report along with a draft law on Tuesday, sources have said. The draft law contains clauses similar to the UCC Act in Uttarakhand and is likely to be tabled during the ongoing Budget Session of the state Assembly that began on February 16. If passed, Gujarat will be the second state after Uttarakhand to adopt a common civil code, whose underlying theme is gender equality, government sources claimed. The expert panel headed by retired Supreme Court judge JusticeRanjanaDesai,whoalso ledthepanelinUttarakhand,is likely to hand over the report to Chief Minister Bhupendra »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l WE DON’T KNOW... IF HE’S DEAD OR NOT: TRUMP ON MOJTABA KHAMENEI l OvER 200 IRANIAN CHILDREN KILLED IN BOMBINGS: ARAGHCHI MORE REPORTS, PAGES 3, 14, 16 Seats NDA Mahagathbandhan HArYANA SEATS MLAs wait to cast their votes in the Rajya Sabha polls, at the Bihar Vidhan Sabha in Patna on Monday. ANI RELATED REPORT, PAgE 11 Opposition later accused the BJPofindulgingin“horsetrading” and “influencing and threatening” its MLAs. In Haryana, the counting of votes for two seats was put on hold for over five hours after both the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress lodged complaints alleging violation of vote secrecy. The counting No standoff, signing of deal after Delhi assured of comparative edge: Official THE INDIA-US framework trade agreement, which was agreed upon just days before the US Supreme Court declared President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) illegal, would be signed after Washington puts in place a new tariff architecture which safeguards India’s comparative advantage in the US market, a senior government official said on Monday. This comes after a number of US trade partners have begun expressing doubts over their trade deals after the IEEPA ruling. While Malaysia on Monday declared its trade deal with the US null and void, citing the collapse of the legal basis for the tariffs that supported it, the European Union E. ExPlAINED THE ALLAHABAD High Court judge who requested the Chief Justice not to assign him the bail roster recently — after one of his bail orders was described as “most shocking and disappointing” by the Supreme Court — has overwhelmingly orderedbailinthedowrydeath cases heard by his Bench. SEATS BJP BJD Independent (BJP backed) 4 2 1 1 Parimal A Dabhi Veraval, March 16 BHUPENDRA RANA A SESSIONS court in Veraval of Gir Somnath district on Monday convicted five persons and acquitted 35 others in the 2016 Unafloggingcaseinwhichfour Dalit men were thrashed and paradedbyself-styledcowvigilantes, triggering massive protests across the country at that time. The court of Additional SessionsJudgeJigneshPandya * CROSS-VOTE BY 8 BJD MLAS, 3 CONg MLAs HELPS INDEPENDENT NIAarrestssix Ukrainians,one fromUSfor plottingterror activitiesinIndia Nirbhay Thakur & Mahender Singh Manral Behind the deal New Delhi, March 16 While India has signalled it would stick to the pact that had been finalised before the US Supreme Court’s IEEPA order, it is conditional to Washington ensuring a comparative tariff advantage for Indian products. THE NATIONAL Investigation Agency(NIA)hasarrestedseven foreign nationals — six Ukrainian nationals and one from the United States — on charges of conspiring to carry out terrorist activities against India. The arrests, made in a coordinated operation by multiple NIA teams last week, were made under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), along with other relevant sections. An FIR in the case was registered on Friday evening. The US national was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at Kolkata airport, and three Ukrainians each were detained at airports in Lucknow and Delhi. A source said that the accused had entered India on valid visas, but had proceeded to Mizoram without the mandatory Restricted Area Permit. “From there, they crossed into Myanmar, where they reportedly met ethnic groups hostile to India. Investigations also uncovered that multiple consignments of drones from Europeweredeliveredbythem in Mizoram,” the source said. The suspects were brought to Delhi and produced before the duty Magistrate on Saturday, who remanded them in had also put the EU-US trade deal on hold. “The US deal was to be »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC rap to Allahabad HC judge over bail in dowry death: In 3 months, he gave bail in 508 of 510 such cases New Delhi, March 16 ODISHA Will challenge judgment in HC & up to apex court, says complainant »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India seeks safeguards as US works on new tariff structure New Delhi, March 16 2 COUNTINg AFFECTED BY OBJECTIONS FROM BJP, CONg; RESULTS DELAYED MALAYSIA DECLARES U.S. TRADE DEAL VOID, EU PUTS IT ON HOLD Ravi Dutta Mishra 5 5 0 * NO-SHOW BY 3 CONg MLAS, 1 RJD MLA DENIES OPP A SEAT Patna, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, March 16 Amaal Sheikh LATEST BIHAr Santosh Singh, Sujit Bisoyi & Manoj C G THE KEENLY watched elections on Monday for 11 vacant Rajya Sabha seats — five in Bihar, four in Odisha and two in Haryana—dealtasetbacktothe Opposition,whichfailedtokeep its flock together in two states. Abstention and cross-votinghelpedtheBJP-ledNDAsecure one additional seat each from Bihar and Odisha. The GujaratUCC expertpanelto submitreport, draftlawtoday l NUmBErSGAmE Opp accuses BJP of threatening its legislators Gujarat court convicts 5, acquits 35 in 2016 Una Dalit flogging case An analysis by The Indian Moreover,thestructureand Expressofthe510publiclyavail- language of the bail orders, as able regular bail orders in well as the bond amount ordowry death cases passed by dered by Justice Bhatia, were the singlesimilar across judge Bench cases, though ExPrESS headed by the circumhim between stances of October and deathdiffered. December2025showsthatJusWhile setting aside a bail tice Pankaj Bhatia gave bail in order by Justice Bhatia on Feb508 — or 99.61% of the total ruary 9, a Supreme Court cases. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 investigation »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad The complainant, Vashram Sarvaiya, and his father Balu Sarvaiya outside the court in Veraval on Monday. has posted the hearing for Tuesday to determine the convicts’ sentence. As the court pronounced the judgment from a small court room on the first floor of the building, Vashram Sar- vaiya — one of the victims andthe complainant – accompanied by his father Balu Sarvaiya, social activist Manjula Pradeep and some others immediately left the courtroom. Looking dejected, Vashram said, “This is a sad judgment and we are not satisfied with it. We will challenge it in the High Court and up to the Supreme Court.” Similar feelings were expressed by his father Balu Sarvaiya who said that they will fight the case right up to the Supreme Court. District Government Pleader Ketansinh Vala, who appeared on behalf of the prosecution, said in a statement thatthecourthasconvictedthe »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2