The Ideas Page: Women’s reservation serves a political project that depends on early delimitation 9 TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2026 Journalism of Courage MuMbAI, lAtE CIty, 16 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 REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 USbegins blockadeofIran’s ports,Tehran threatenstohit Gulf;oiltops$100 Trevor Hunnicutt & Parisa Hafezi Washington, Dubai, April 13 THEUSmilitarybeganablockade of ships leaving Iran’s ports on Monday, President Donald Trump said, and Tehran threatened to retaliate against ports of its Gulf neighbours »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 business as Usual By EP UNNY PLEA ON WEST bENGAL S.I.R EXCLUSIONS If win margin 2%, deletions 15%... what will happen: SC Express News Service New Delhi, April 13 CALLING THE right to vote the “biggest expression of nationality and patriotism...in a democratic government”, the Supreme Court Monday raised questions on the exclusion of voters in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal and flagged concerns over deletions in the context of winning margins. Hearing a petition on the adjudication of appeals against the exclusion of names in the SIRofelectoralrollsinthestate, the court indicated that it might consider allowing an additional supplementary list. “...Suppose margin is 2% and 15% of electorate who are mapped could not vote, then maybe we are not expressing anyopinion,butwewoulddefinitelyhavetoapplyourminds,” EXPRESSinvestigation WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS (ICIJ) Access plan ties cancer patients in red tape and Rs 10-lakh upfront Anonna Dutt New Delhi, April 13 ■ Two years ago, Ekta* found herself sitting at the dining table of her Gurugram home one evening, on a call with a representative from the Kiran Patient Access Program at 6:45 pm. She spoke for over an hour, she says, because she was afraid to hang up. She needed an OTP without which hermother-in-lawcouldnotreceivehernextdoseofKeytruda, the blockbuster immunotherapy cancer drug, at AIIMS, Delhi, the following morning. vive,” he said. He ■ For 63-yearhas now been on oldAjit*,firstdiagKeytruda for over nosedwithkidney a year. cancer in 2017, the The stories of path to Keytruda THE CANCER Ekta and Ajit illuswas slightly less trate the chaldifficult but only lenges surroundbecause he had ing access to the means to purPARt-II Keytruda.Aninvestichase a cancer insurance policy. “I remember when gationbyTheIndianExpress,in I got a hernia at one of the association with The Internastitches from my kidney re- tional Consortium of Investimoval surgery. My daughter gative Journalists (ICIJ), has »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 was to get married in a few months but the doctors asked tomorrow: oNE doSE, me to hold the wedding earlier. mANy qUEStIoNS TheywerenotsureIwouldsur- calculus Conversion, sexual assault FIRs: Before Nashik’s ‘second chance’ school in TCS unit arrests, tip-off At tribunals’ door, time uncertainty after borstal law scrap and undercover cops running out: ‘No one Sadaf Modak Investigation underway: Tata understands our fear’ »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 imposing and bereft, its faded yellow gates shut. Unlike the noise and traffic outside, it’s quiet here: not a soul in sight, save for the odd two-wheeler; the large courtyard lies mostly empty. “Kishore Sudharalaya, Nashik,”theausterebluelettering announces in Devanagari. Outwardly, nothing signals whattheinstitutionis.Yetthere Mumbai, Nashik, April 13 Sweety Kumari Kolkata, April 13 94 122 150 71 CLADINawhitekurta-pyjama, 87-year-old Manmatha Nath Bhowmik stands outside the Syama Prasad Mookerjee National Institute of Water and SanitationatJokanearKolkata, clutching a plastic folder, and carrying a bag slung sideways. His eyes, clouded with age and distress, are scanning the Central force deployment at the DECISION 2026 W EST bEN GAL gates of the institute, where the 19 tribunals to hear appeals of the 27 lakh “deleted” from the final voting list in West Bengal are to sit. Bhowmik has come alone. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN ONE cornerofthebusyGole Colony — tucked between the busstandandThakkarBazar— the Nashik Borstal School stands behind closed wroughtiron gates, its fate uncertain after the Maharashtra government scrapped the 1929 law governing it. “Restricted area,” reads the white lettering on a reddish-brownboard.“Entryof outside vehicles is prohibited.” Inside,ashortwalkthrough a canopy of trees leads to a white government building — »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The building of the Nashik Borstal School currently houses five inmates sent by Juvenile Justice Boards. SADAf MODAk whAt mAhArAShtrA’S 80 rEpEALEd LAwS SAy AboUt who wE wErE UNdEr oUr coLoNIAL mAStErS, pAgE 4 Sons chairman Mohamed Thaver Nashik, April 13 IN FEBRUARY this year, when a local political party worker in Nashik,located180kmnorthof Mumbai, approached the Nashik City police alleging that a Hindu woman in her early 20s working at a BPO unit of TCS there was observing fasts during Ramzan, it would set off a series of events that would end with nine FIRs ranging from allegations of sexual abuse and religiousconversion,sevenemployees being placed under arrest, and a pause in the unit's operations. On Monday, N Chandrasekaran,theTataSons chairman, said a thorough investigation is underway to ascertain what transpired. According to the police, the local political party worker told them that the woman had been influenced to follow the teachings of Islam at her workplace, where “something amiss” was goingon.Policedidnotdisclose »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai