FREE PRESS FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms - VOL. 11 NO. 329 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | MAY 12, 2022 | PAGES 14 EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE EDIT OMINOUS SIGNS IN PUNJAB AGAIN FOR 24X7 UPDATES OUR BUREAU New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on pleas to criminalise marital rape and referred the matter to the Supreme Court. In question before the High Court was the matter of validity of the IPC provision that states charges of rape cannot be invoked against a man who has nonconsensual sex with his wife. One judge said, 'yes', it is a criminality, but another judge said, 'no'. ''The impugned provisions in so far as they concern a husband having intercourse with his wife without consent are violative of article 14 and are, therefore, struck down," Justice Shakdher held. "I do not agree. There is no support to show that im- pugned exception violates Articles 14, 19 or 21. There is an intelligible differentia. I am of the view that the challenge cannot sustain," Justice Shankar held. This will be a second case the top court will be adjudicating, as only on Tuesday a , Bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana admitted for hearing a case of marital rape from Bangalore. The two-judge bench had reserved its judgement on February 21 on the petitions seeking to strike down the exception granted to husbands under the Indian rape law. The court was hearing PILs filed by NGOs RIT Foundation, All India Democratic Women's Association and a man and a woman seeking that the exception granted to husbands under the Indian rape law be struck down. CONTD. ON P6 NIA to open office in MP BHOPAL News Brief PM to participate in Covid meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the Second Global Covid Virtual Summit on May 12 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden. Gangster with Pak links held The Punjab Police is learnt to have detained a man from Tarn Taran district in connection with the explosion at the intelligence wing headquarters in Mohali, sources said on Wednesday. Nishan Singh was among 48 accused who had been booked for having contact with Pakistani smugglers and possessing Pakistani SIM cards in 2014. ED arrests J’khand mining secy Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal was arrested Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in Khunti and other suspicious financial transactions, officials said. 282 skeletons of 1857 martyrs found The skeletons of 282 Indian soldiers who participated in India's First War of Independence in 1857 were found during the excavation near Amritsar, said Dr JS Sehrawat, Assistant Professor, Dept Anthropology, Punjab University. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will soon open its office in the state to investigate activities of terror outfits. Till now, the anti-terror agency did not have its office in the state. Notably, the state police had a few months back arrested some members of an extremist organisation. "The NIA is going to open a branch in Madhya Pradesh soon. The agency is conducting a probe into the activities of terrorist organisations like Al-Soofa and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in the state," Mishra, who is also the state government's spokesman, told reporters. In March this year, the MP police had arrested four alleged members of the banned JMB from Bhopal and seized Jihadi literature and electronic devices from their possession. Besides, the Rajasthan police's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had in March arrested three suspected terrorists associated with the Al- THE SALIENT FEATURES OUR BUREAU New Delhi The Supreme Court on Wednesday put in abeyance the 152-year-old non-bailable sedition law "to protect people" from arrests and "preserve the civil liberty of citizens" until the government takes a call on its review. "It will be appropriate not to use this provision of law till further re-examination is over. We hope and expect the Centre and states will desist from registering any FIR [First Information Report] under Section 124A or initiate proceedings under the same till its re-examination is over," said the CJI N V Ramana-led bench, which also comprised justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. Those already booked under the law may apply for bail. CONTD. ON P6 Q Until re-examination of the sedition law provision is complete, no case will be registered under Section 124A, nor any investigation be taken up under this provision; Q Those already booked under the sedition law, and are in jail, could approach the competent court for appropriate relief and the court will expeditiously consider the question of bail; Q Reliefs granted to the accused by the court would continue; Q If any fresh cases are filed, concerned parties may approach court and the latter will expeditiously dispose of the same; Q The Centre is at liberty to issue additional directions to the states to prevent misuse of the law. Q Without fixing any deadline for completion of review of the provision, the Bench fixed the third week of July for hearing pleas challenging the sedition law's validity, hoping that the Centre would by then have agreed to reexamination. MP civic bodies polls to be held between June 12 & 30 Govt reconstitutes panel for checking narcotics and drugs SEC TO hold collectors' conference today The state government has reconstituted the state level committee superseding the committee constituted earlier for a better coordination and check on narcotics and other drugs in the state. Chief secretary will head the committee, as per official statement. As per statement, the committee will monitor the situation of drug trafficking in the state and coordinate among various departments of the state government on matters related to law enforcement and drug abuse. CONTD. ON P6 OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in The State Election Commission (SEC) held separate meetings with officials of Panchayat and Rural Development Department and Urban Administration Department on Wednesday to discuss modalities to hold panchayat polls. State Election Commissioner (SEC), Basant Pratap Singh said that after meeting officials from the related department, conference of collectors of all districts have been called on Thursday . "Elections for rural and urban local bodies will be completed before June 30. All formalities related to urban bodies are complete therefore elections for ur- OBC QUOTA ISSUE CM CANCELS FOREIGN TRIP, LEAVES FOR DELHI OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Wednesday morning cancelling of his foreign journey he was scheduled to undertake from May 14 to attract investment to Madhya Pradesh. Later, he flew to Delhi along with home minister MANISH GODHA Jaipur seeking that the Archaeological Survey of India be asked to examine the 22 locked rooms of the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of Hindu idols. Speaking in support of the petition, she said, “It should be investigated what was there before the monument was built. People have the right to know what was there originally before the 'maqbara'." CONTD. ON P6 Narottam Mishra and urban administration and development minister Bhupendra Singh to have a discussion with country's solicitor general Tushar Mehta on the issue. "Our resolve is for adequate representation to OBCs in local bodies and panchayats in Madhya Pradesh and we are making all out efforts to ensure this. CONTD. ON P6 Cop kills 6-yr-old boy for demanding money AGENCIES Datia A police head constable allegedly killed a six-year-old poor boy in Datia district after the latter repeatedly asked for money from him, and then carried the body in his car and dumped it at an isolated place in neighbouring Gwalior, a senior official said. The incident took place last Thursday and the head constable, Ravi Sharma, who was posted at Gwalior's Police Training School, was later arrested, Superintendent of Police Aman Singh Rathore told reporters on Tuesday . CONTD. ON P6 Mysterious ‘golden’ chariot washes ashore in Andhra AGENCIES Srikakulam A mysterious gold-coloured chariot washed ashore at Sunnapalli Sea Harbour in Andhra's Srikakulam district on Tuesday amid the impact of cyclone Asani in the area. The people on the shore were seen dragging the chariot out of the water and bringing it to the shore. SI of Naupada (Srikakulam district) said that the intelligence department has been informed DREAMY DUO Pg-14 ‘Desist from registering FIRs or any other proceedings till govt re-examines it’ Jaipur royalty claims Taj Mahal built on their land Amidst all kind of claims and counter-claims about the Taj Mahal, the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur has asserted that the monument is built on land which originally belonged to them. Diya Kumari, a member of the family and a BJP MP, told media: ‘‘We had a palace on that land. I am glad someone has petitioned the court and demanded that the doors of the Taj Mahal be opened.’’ The BJP MP was referring to a petition filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 SC puts sedition law on hold WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN Marital rape: HC gives split verdict, case goes to SC r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; about the incident. "It might have come from another country. We have informed Intelli- gence and higher officials," the SI said. Earlier today, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the severe Cyclonic Storm 'Asani' weakened into a 'cyclonic storm' and is likely to become a depression by Thursday morning. Cyclone Asani continues to disrupt the flight operations in Andhra's Visakhapatnam and Tamil Nadu's Chennai as all IndiGo flights were cancelled on Wednesday morning. ban bodies will be held in the first phase that will be over by June 12. Second phase for rural bodies too will be completed by June 30," said Singh, after the meeting. The SEC, after meeting with officials of UAD and Panchayat and Rural Development department, has convened a meeting of collectors of all districts on Thursday . The State Election Commissioner said that delimitation of urban bodies is complete therefore they will go to the polls in the first phase. CONTD. ON P6 OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 42.20c. 25.50c Sunrise : 05.48 Sunset : 06.59 BHOJSHALA CONTROVERSY MP HC NOTICES TO CENTRE AND STATE GOVTS OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore The controversy on Dhar Bhojshala spiked again in the motion of ongoing nationwide controversies over temple and mosques. The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre, state government, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and other parties on the dispute over the monument of Bhojshala in the Indore neighbouring Dhar district. The notices were issued by the division bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Amarnath Kesharwani on two public interest litigations (PIL) filed by Hindu Front for Justice and others from the Hindu community . The high court also issued notices to Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society, which is associated with a masjid situated in the Bhojshala premises. Bhojshala is an ASI protected monument, which Hindus believe is a temple of Waghdevi (Saraswati), while the Muslim community treats it as Kamal Maula Mosque. As per the arrangement made by the ASI, Hindus perform puja in the premises every Tuesday, while BHOJSHALA HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE In Dhar, King Bhoj of the Parmar dynasty had established Saraswati Sadan in Dhar in 1034. Actually it was a college which later came to be known as Bhojshala. It was during the reign of Raja Bhoj that the idol of Maa Saraswati (Vag Devi) was installed here. This statue was found in the excavation near Bhojshala. In 1880 this statue was sent to London. In 1456, the dargah of Maulana Kamaluddin was built by Mahmud Khilji. Muslims offer namaz in the complex on Fridays. The petitioners submitted historic facts about Bhojshala and its photos before the high court to challenge the ASI's arrangement under different provisions of the Constitution, the petitioners' advocate Harishankar Jain told reporters.