The editorial Page: Public servants must act in favour of the weak, and in fear of their conscience 10 MoNDay, SEPTEMbEr 28, 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 delhiminister slapsyouth duringroad inspection,aaP seeksaction New Delhi, September 27 alok singh & devansh Mittal New Delhi, September 27 deLhI PWd minister Parvesh Sahib Singh found himself at the centre of a row on Sunday as a video clip circulated on social media showed him slapping a youth during inspection ofroadrepairworkinVikaspuri area of West delhi. Sharing the video clip on X, AAP mLA from tilak nagar, Jarnail Singh, said in his post: “he had come to inspect the road, but upon seeing scam after scam being exposed, he lost his cool and ended up indulging in thuggery (goondagardi) with my colleague who was recording the video." Parvesh Sahib Singh, too, shared a video on X later in which he alleged that AAP workers had abused his family. “Listen to the full truth behind today’s incident... but what happened should not have happened,” he said in his post. the incident happened on Sunday afternoon. the video »cOntInUed On PaGe 2 Trade in focus, India, Canada push to up ties elephant smuggled from nepal, trail points to ngo in leopard poaching probe Jay Mazoomdaar A video grab of the incident in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri, Sunday ahead Of PM's lIkely vIsIt In dec EXpRESS special fIrSt, It was alleged leopard poaching. now, it is the alleged purchase of an elephant from nepal. the ngo Wildlife SoS, whose two functionaries are in the custody of madhya Pradesh’s forest department in a leopard poaching case with its Ceo Kartick Satyanarayan due to join the probe, is also allegedly linked to a case of live elephant trade from four years ago, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) records show. In march 2022, the WCCB arrested three men with 30 kg ofivoryinJaipur.oneoftheaccused told investigators that a “mathura resident Suraj Pal”, whois“associatedwithanAgra ngo”,hadboughtafemaleelephant smuggled from nepal, it is learnt. the mobile phone of another accused contained chats with a contact saved as “SoS.Baigo.Agra” — the chats referred to “Suraj Pal’s elephant”, and the contact wrote he had kept “Kartick sir” informed, records show. What’s missing in the »cOntInUed On PaGe 2 Citizenship not ECI’s job: Former SC judge Dhulia express news service During protests by students of the Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab, Sunday. pTi Violence over sexual assault claim in LPU, university denies incident anju agnihotri chaba Jalandhar, September 27 StudentS of Lovely Professional university (LPu) in Punjab’s Phagwara staged a violent protest early on Sunday, damaging property, vandalising shops, setting vehicles on fire business as usual by EP UNNy New Delhi, September 27 former SuPreme Court judge Sudhanshu dhulia has said that the apex court has laid down the law in several judgmentsoncitizenshipand it “is not the election Commission of InPage 14 dia’s job”. Justice dhulia, who retired from the Supreme Court in August 2025, also described as “a serious matter” the two elec- To take ties to higher level, says Jaishankar; building renewed partnerships with large economies like India, China: Canada minister INSIDE Page 8 Clash at KolKata film institute and blocking a national highway, alleging that a girl student had been sexually assaulted by harish damodaran renukA puri tion Commissioners objecting onrecord14timesin10months tostepstakenbytheChiefelectionCommissioner,asreported »cOntInUed On PaGe 2 »cOntInUed On PaGe 2 SIgnALLIng further moves to improve ties between new delhi and ottawa, Canada’s foreign minister Anita Anand underlined attempts to build “renewed partnerships” withlargeeconomieslikeIndia and China, while external Affairs minister S Jaishankar said the two sides are preparing to take their relationship “to a higher level”. »cOntInUed On PaGe 2 as fungal disease hits sugar output in UP, new cane variety holds hope New Delhi, September 27 Justice (retd) Sudhanshu Dhulia was at the Idea Exchange Friday an “outsider” on campus. the university denied the allegation, describing it as “baseless and fabricated rumours”. following the violence, LPu suspended classes for 10 days with effect from September 28. Inacommunicationtostudents, divya a New Delhi, September 27 uttAr PrAdeSh, India’s top cane growing state, has seen its sugar output plummet from 126.4 lakh tonnes (lt) to 89.5 lt between 2019-20 and 2025-26 (october-September production years). the primary reason has been the susceptibility of the widely-cultivated sugarcane variety, Co-0238 (also called Karan 4), to red rot fungal disease. the resultant yield losses have led to the total quantity of cane crushed by the 120-odd sugar mills in uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are set to be held in februarymarch 2027, falling by over a fifth in the last six years. A new variety of hope theindustryisnowpinning itshopesonanewvarietydeveloped by the Indian Council of Agricultural research’s Sugarcane Breeding Institute (ICArSBI)atCoimbatore.thisvariety, Co-20016(Karan20),hasalready been picked as a potential replacementforCo-0238byaVarietal Identification Committee »cOntInUed On PaGe 2 EAM S Jaishankar with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand in New York. Ani polItIcS Page 7 ashoK singhal: a life dediCated to nation-building by PM NarENDra MoDI Happening today lIndIa’s crIcket campaign in the Japan Asian Games starts, while Avinash Sable and Sreeshankar Murali will carry medal hopes in Athletics. Lucknow