The editorial Page: India’s growth numbers are real. so is the reform challenge 10 FrIDAY, SEPtEMBEr 4, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage mumBai, 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 reg.no. McS/067/2018 - 20 rni regn. no. 1543/57 BILATERAL vISIT TO UkRAINE EXPRESS investigation Not buying Russia oil will not stop war: Jaishankar Police camera ‘caught’ murder, rape accused at Jantar Mantar protest — at least 25 of them were in jail, records show Delhi Police assures SC no action without verification. Scrutiny of records of 205 accused of serious charges reveals why this verification is crucial Facial recognition System (FrS) in a Delhi police van parked near the Jantar Mantar protest site in July-end. aBhinav Saha Mahender Singh Manral New Delhi, September 3 on Tuesday, when the supreme Court quashed all FIRs related to the exam leak protests by students, it let the government proceed against the 2,873 people who the delhi Police claimed had criminal records and were identified by its facial recognition software at the main protest site in Jantar MantarbetweenJuly20and26. For their part, the police have made it clear that any action 80 108 132 74 NaTioN Page 9 abhishek banerJee’s office vandalised, 6 held; no Political link, say Police will be taken only after “field verification”, not merely on facial recognition. Their task is cut out. an investigation of those with serious charges, murder, attempted murder and rape, and child abuse, shows that at least25peopleonthelist,identified by the Facial Recognition system (FRs) at Jantar Mantar, wereinjailasperpolice,jailand court records. ofthe2,873peopleidentified inthepoliceaffidavit(seechart), The Indian Express focused on Pune, September 3 VIdyanand BaPaT, whose campaign against noise pollutionduringtheganpatifestival in Pune has sparked a massive debate, was attacked in public on Thursday morning. The incident on Tilak Road was caught on camera. Bapat is seen speaking to some mediapersonswhenamanslapshim. Pune Police Commissioner DelhiPolicetoSC No. of accused offence murder attempt to murder dacoity/ robbery rape PocSo act molestation of women arms act Snatching kidnapping ndPS (drugs cases) other iPc/BnS and special laws 101 62 284 61 06 25 229 135 19 67 ToTal 2873 1884 those who were accused of murder,attempttomurderand rape.Thisaccountedfor205:101 (murder), 61 (rape), six (ProtectionofChildrenfromsexualoffencesact)and37ofthe62listed intheaffidavitunderattemptto murder. In this group of 205, 17 facing charges of murder; four of rape, including two in PoCso cases; and four more of attempttomurderwerelodged in delhi's three prison complexes at Tihar, Mandoli and »CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 Exports push GDP growth, but low-margin shipments struggle Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, September 3 IndIa’sgoodsexportsbucked expectationstorecordtheirbestever June, with outbound shipments jumping to a record $44.24 billion at the peak of the disruptioncausedbythecrisisin West asia. This performance helped drive gdP growth in april-June to an unexpectedly high 7.8%. But under the head- Pune man seeking DJ ban during Ganesh fest assaulted; attacker held Express News Service l ‘Criminals’spotted: amitesh Kumar said the attacker had been arrested and wasbeingchargedwithcognizable non-bailable offences. Bapat has been vocal in recent days about the need to curbnoise pollution during festivals by banning loudspeakers and dhol tashas during public celebrations. Kumar said, “a cognizable and non-bailable case is being filed. The accused is in police custody and the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 line number, most labour-intensiveandlow-marginexports did not fare well. overall goods exports in april-June rose 15% year-onyear to $129.32 billion while non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery shipments were up 12% at $99.04 billion — well above the 6.5% growth exhibitedovertheprevioustwofinancial years. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 business as usual By EP UNNY ThE woRlD Page 14 around 20,000 houses have to be rebuilt in safer locations in nePal Focus on trade, defence ties SEvEN FOREIGNERS wERE ARRESTED IN MARCH NIA links Ukraine, US nationals to drone attack on plane in Myanmar Credible information men were engaged in drone warfare training: Probe agency Nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, September 3 The naTIonal Investigation agency (nIa) has told a delhi court that the seven foreign nationals who were arrested this March for allegedly conspiring to carry out terrorist activities againstIndiawereinvolvedina drone attack on a civilian aircraftinneighbouringMyanmar. NALSAR ROw Apexcourt:Bar Councilshave nodisciplinary powerover lawstudents Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, September 3 The suPReMe Court on Thursday said the Bar Council of India (BCI) and state Bar Councils have no power to take disciplinary action against law students before they are enrolled as lawyers, holding that such matters fall exclusively withinthedomainoftheireducational institutions. The bench was hearing a plea against BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra’s nowwithdrawn directions on barring the 2026 graduating batch of nalsaR university of law, hyderabad, from enrolling with state Bar Councils and seeking an inquiry to identify students behind a campaign againstinvitingChiefJusticeof IndiasuryaKantfortheuniversity's convocation. The directive, issued on august 13, was rolled back within hours. “We are of the opinion that theadvocatesact,1961,whereunder BCI has been statutorily created,doesnotconferanyexpress or implied power upon »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In Punjab, the baaz, a rare hawk and state bird, creates a flutter in poll ring ChiefMinisterandaamaadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann. The venerable status of as PeR official records, Punjab northern goshawk in Punjab, has mounted two separate ef- anditsdesignationasstateBird, forts,sevenyearsapart(2018and flowfromthebeliefthatthema2025), to try and locate its state jestic black and white hawk is Bird—the‘northern the avian species that PagE 1 goshawk’ — within features in depictions its boundaries, with of guru gobind no success. singh.duetothis,the now,aheadofthehotlycon- Tenth guru is often referred to tested Punjab assembly elec- as Bajanvala, or the Master of tions, the bird has been the hawk, with the bird seen as “spotted” — flying somewhere asymbolofroyalauthority,sovnear both shiromani akali dal ereignty, and the fearless warleadersukhbirsinghBadaland riorspiritoftheKhalsa,founded Ludhiana, September 3 anchor The northern goshawk. vikram Jit Singh Shubhajit Roy prime Minister narendra Modi with his belgian counterpart bart De Wever in new Delhi, Thursday. both sides agreed to strengthen defence cooperation and double bilateral trade. anil Sharma; reporTS, Page 8 l HArSiMrAT clAiMS bAAz ‘proTecTeD’ HUSbAnD DUring ATTAck; MAnn SAyS cAMe To ‘bleSS’ HiM AT rAlly Divya Goyal Gopal Underlines need for dialogue, diplomacy, says India ready to help in any manner by gobind singh. Theakalidal,whichguards its Panthic vote eagle-like, was the first to claim a sighting. after Badal was attacked outside a gurdwara in nanded on august 13, his wife and former unionministerharsimratKaur Badal said the guru had sent his “baaz” to protect him. at a series of rallies in Punjab, harsimratdisplayedphotosof “150 stitches” that she said Badal had received following the deep cut on his right hand, and claimedtheirchildrenhadseen »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke is lodged in Tihar jail. matthewvandyke.com The foreigners — six ukrainians and an american — are currently in Tihar Jail. on august 31, special Judge PrashantsharmaallowedthenIa’s applicationseekingpermission to interrogate two of the men in prison. “...The Central government has received credible informationindicatingtheinvolvement ofcertainukrainianandusnationals in a drone attack on a civilianaircraftinMyanmar,”the nIa said in the application to the court dated august 19. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, September 3 days aFTeR Prime Minister narendra Modi called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to move from “endless war” to “end of war”, external affairs Minister s Jaishankar said in KyivonThursdaythatstopping purchase of Russian oil will not “dissolve” the conflict, and underlined the need for “dialogue and diplomacy”. he said India was ready to “help in any manner” to end the Russiaukraine war. demonstrating a diplomatic balancing act, Jaishankar’s bilateral visit to ukraine comes at a time when Modi is meeting Putin twice within weeks — on the sidelines of the shanghai Cooperation organisation (sCo) leaders’ summit in Bishkek on august 31, and at the BRICs summit in new delhi on september 12-13. Besidesmeetinghisukrainian counterpart andrii sybiha, Jaishankar also called on ukraine’sPresidentVolodymyr external Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Ukrainian president Volodymyr zelenskyy in kyiv, Thursday. ani ZelenskyyonThursday.sybiha welcomed Modi’s call to move “towards an end to the war”, and said ukraine “stands ready for diplomacy”. In a post on X, Zelenskyy thanked India for its “commitment to ending this unjust war”. Responding to a question at a media briefing after his meeting with sybiha, Jaishankar »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2