The editorial Page: The voice of india’s youth must be heard inside Parliament 10 THURSdAY, JUlY 23, 2026 JournAlism of CourAge LUckNow, LATE cITY, 18 PAGES ₹6.00 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 seeKs no legal action against pRotesteRs, compensation FoR neet aspiRants Who ended liVes Wangchuk opens a window for talks as Centre steps up efforts to resolve crisis Ministers meet him in hospital, he says will ask students to halt if assurances met Govt offers discussion in House, Opp presses for Pradhan’s resignation liz mathew & Jatin anand manoj cg New Delhi, July 22 AS the government stepped up efforts to defuse the situationarisingoutofstudentprotests that have paralysed the heart of the Capital, a window opened Wednesday after activist Sonam Wangchuk said he would end his fast and ask the students to “halt the movement for now and enter into a dialoguewiththegovernment” if it fulfils its assurances to him and does not press for legal action against the protesters. Wangchuk released a letter addressed to Union Ministers J P nadda and Jitendra Singh who met him tuesday night at the Medanta hospital in gurgaon. Without insisting on theresignationofUnioneduca- Business as Usual By EP UNNY tionMinisterDharmendraPradhan, he said the ministers had assured him that the governmentwouldconsiderproviding »continued on page 2 New Delhi, July 22 the gRiDLoCk in Parliament showed no signs of ending on Wednesday as opposition parties remained firm on their demand for the resignation of education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan even as the government signalled that it was readytomeetthemhalfway,reiterating its willingness to hold an elaborate discussion in the house on the paper leak issue. the opposition also reached out to activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike since June 28, and urged him to end his fast. While the opposition is insisting on Pradhan’s resignation, sources said there is a divergenceofopiniononwhether preservecctV footage:hcto police;cJisays don’thavetime towatchvideos sohini ghosh & ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, July 22 Protesters at sansad marg in delhi on Wednesday. GAjENdRA YAdAv they should press for his ouster as a pre-condition to a discussion in Parliament. Apparently displeased with the Congress’s decision to stage a protest outside Prime Minister narendra Modi's residence on tuesday without taking them into confidence, some opposi- tion leaders have urged the Congress to ensure that there is coordination. Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul gandhi outlined the Congress’s demands - Pradhan's resignation, action against police personnel who »continued on page 2 DeCLining to accept the Delhi Police argument that aggrieved protesters must individually pursue action against alleged brutalities and excessive use of force during the ‘Chalo Sansad’ march on July 20,organised bythe Cockroach Janta Party, the Delhi high Court Wednesday agreed to hear two public interest litigations on the issue. “is it a case of some isolated individual incidents? Perhaps »continued on page 2 Ram temple donation ‘theFt’ Trust sets up panel of seers for religious affairs, to review tie-up with SBI maulshree seth Lucknow, July 22 Seeking to restore the confidence of seers from Ayodhya andelsewhereinthewakeofthe controversyoverallegedtheftof donations, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi teerth kshetra trust on Wednesday constituted a nine-member Dharmik Committeeofseerstolookafter all religious affairs at the shrine andannouncedtoreviewitstieup with the State Bank of india which has been tasked with the counting of offerings. the decisions were taken in the trust's second meeting after the controversy broke out in early June. A Special investigation team (Sit) has been formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the alleged misappropriations. Also, the trust appointed an official spokesperson to “strengthen communication with the media and the public”, even as it deferred the appoint- at the Wednesday meeting. PTI ment of its first chief executive officer (Ceo) by a month after the three-member selection panelsoughtmoretimetoscrutinise over 5,200 applications. it also approved the appointment of a secretary to the threememberCeoselectioncommitteeuntiltheprocessisover. the Dharmik Committee will be headed by trust treasurer Swami govind Dev giri with seers Mahant kamal nayan Das (Maniram Chhawani), Swami Ramanand Das (Ramkathakunj),MahantRam kumarDas(RamVallabhkunj), Swami Mithilesh nandini Sharan, Mahant Dhirendra Das »continued on page 2 After surgery, protester injured in march speaks: ‘RAF man shot me... pellets hit me in the face’ tabshir shams New Delhi, July 22 LYing on a hospital bed in the heart of Delhi after surgery, 25-year-old irshad Shaikh strugglestofindwordsforwhat happenedtohimonthechaotic afternoon of July 20. Speaking to The Indian Express Wednesday from the ent ward of Lady hardinge hospital,Shaikh,anMBAgraduate working in gurgaon, was among the protesters who had joined the CJP’s “Chalo San- Happening today lRussian FoReign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Manila. lindia Face Zimbabwe in the first of the three-match T20I series in Harare. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Delhi Protest PAge 8 PTI fILE (Left) Irshad shaikh at Lady hardinge hospital; with Union minister J P nadda, Tuesday. sad” march that day when, he says, he was hit by “multiple pellets” fired by an “RAF man”. the RAF (Rapid Action Force), drawn from the CRPF, was on duty that day, along withtheDelhiPolice,tocontrol themassivecrowdofprotesters who were part of the Parliament march — a faceoff that quickly spiralled into clashes with the security personnel wielding lathis and teargas. on Wednesday morning, Delhi Police denied they used pellets. the CRPF did not respondtoarequestforcomment fromTheIndianExpress.When asked if Shaikh had pellet injuries and about the nature of histreatment,DrhimaniAhluwalia, Director, Lady hardinge hospital, did not comment. »continued on page 2 First terror attack in Valley since Pahalgam: Cop on Yatra duty killed Bashaarat masood Srinagar, July 22 in the first terror attack in kashmir since the killing of touristsinPahalgamlastyear,a policeman was shot dead in Anantnag Wednesday, triggering a massive search operation by security forces. head Constable Ashiq hussain Qureshi, a resident of Budgam in central kashmir, who was posted with the iRP and attached with the Special oper- ationsgroup,wasonAmarnath Yatraduty.theannualpilgrimage is currently suspended because of inclement weather. officials said Qureshi was shot from point blank range near Lal Chowk in Anantnag in south kashmir on Wednesday afternoon.hesuccumbedtoinjuries while being taken to hospital,andwasdeclareddeadon arrival. Qureshi is survived by his wife and three children. »continued on page 2 E. explained Amid high alert for Amarnath Yatra The terror attack comes at a time when security is on high alert for the Amarnath Yatra. A large number of police, paramilitary and Army personnel are deployed across the Union Territory. lWomen voIces LoUdesT: aLTernaTIve coLLeges affILIaTed To a UnIversITy ‘Too far’ ‘Change name... but don’t end careers’: At Jauhar varsity, a campus fears demolition maulshree seth Rampur, July 22 “Naam se dikkat hai toh naam badaldo(if you have a problem with the name, change the name),acquiretheuniversity… But don’t demolish it,” says 20-year-old Shahvez, who is doing an ot technician course at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Rampur. Awaiting the results of his final-year exams, 26-year-old Mohd Shoaib, a student of M. Pharma at the university, is worriedwhatwillhappentothe convocation three months farah (on scooty) and her friends, who are students of auxiliary nurse midwife course, at mohammad ali Jauhar University. MAULSHREE SETH fromnowwhenheisscheduled togethisdegree,or“willthedegreeevenbevalid?”,iftheRampur Development Authority goes ahead with its July 15 notice to demolish 38 of the 40 buildings at the university, giving it time until August 5. With only the medical college building and academic block to be spared, the demolition would virtually shut down MohammadAliJauharUniversity, spread over 250 acres and foundedalmost20yearsagoby senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam khan. Under the BJP »continued on page 2 IRDAI REGN No. 190 CIN: L66000MH1919G0I000526 ADVT. NO. NIA/26-27/03 Lucknow