FREE PRESS - VOL. 12 NO. 221 | BHOPAL | SATURDAY | JANUARY 21, 2023 | PAGES 16 Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE Caste census in Bihar: SC refuses to entertain pleas WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN FOR 24X7 UPDATES News Brief Symbol row: Sena factions to submit reply by Jan 23 NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India has asked Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra CM Ekanth Sindhe to submit a written reply on the party symbols by January 23. The Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde are arguing before the Election Commission over the 'bow and arrow' symbol of the party, founded by Uddhav Thackeray's father late Bal Thackeray. 67% polling in 19 civic bodies BHOPAL: About 67.9% of polling was registered in 19 civic bodies for which elections were held on Friday. State Election Commission's Rakesh Singh said counting would take place on Jan 23. The elections were held in 19 civic bodies that belong to Guna, Anuppur, Khandwa, Badwani and in Dhar districts. The polling was conducted at 720 booths. Ram Sethu can't be touched: BJP to DMK CUDDALORE : The Sethusamudram ship canal project may be implemented without causing any damage to Ram Sethu, which is revered by the people, the BJP resolved in its State executive committee meet here on Friday. Led by State unit president K Annamalai, the party meet demanded an apology from Chief Minister M K Stalin to the people for alleged use of language, that did not denote respect, against Governor R N Ravi. BENCH SAYS it is a Publicity Interest Litigation OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain petitions challenging the Bihar government's decision to conduct a castebased census. A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath said the court was not inclined to entertain submissions made by the counsel, representing LoP Singh tears into Bageshwardham seer for leaving Nagpur event OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Opposition Leader of Govind Singh tore into Krishna Dhirendra Shashtri (Bageshwar Dham seer) on Friday for his style of working. Shashtri, who claims to do miracles through his 'supernatural' powers, fled from a religious event in Nagpur where he was asked to show his supernatural powers. Singh, however, wanted to know the reasons for Shashtri's leaving the religious event without informing people and sought an explanation from him. Singh told media persons that the Indian Superstition Eradication Committee (ISEC) functioning in Nagpur challenged Shashtri to prove his 'power'. CONTD. ON P6 petitioners. the The bench orally observed, "So, this is a publicity interest litigation?" a brief After hearing in the matter, the top court asked the counsel to move the high court and dismissed all petitions as withdrawn, and granted liberty to seek appropriate remedies in law. The petitions sought a direction from the apex court to quash the Bihar government's notification to conduct caste-based census. Prof discharged in Didi's cartoon case KOLKATA : Ten years after a criminal case was instituted against a university professor for forwarding a cartoon allegedly aimed at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Alipur Court here on Friday discharged him of the charges. Following the verdict, Prof Ambikesh Mahapatra said his arrest was an attempt to throttle free speech and those who are fighting for democracy will feel encouraged by this verdict. NATION HEAVY SNOW HALTS DEMOLITION On Jan 11, the apex court agreed to examine a plea seeking quashing the Bihar government's decision to conduct a caste survey in the state. The plea sought quashing of the notification issued by the deputy sec, retary government of Bihar, in connection with a caste survey in the state and to refrain the authorities concerned from conducting the exercise. It added that there is no provision in the Constitution regarding caste configuration. Nath lays stress on caste-based census, party distances itself Cong state in-charge Agarwal says the party has nothing to do with it OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Taking cue from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Madhya Congress Committee (MPCC) president Kamal Nath has advocated for conducting castebased census. Nevertheless, his statement has kicked up a row in the party itself. Party's state in-charge JP Agarwal said Nath's statement had nothing to do with the party's position on the issue of caste-based census. Nath told the media persons in Tikamgarh that there are several castes in the state. The people belonging to those castes have always Congress does not need any Scindia MPCC president Kamal Nath said the Congress does not need any Scindia. Had Scindia been such a powerful leader, the BJP would not have lost the mayoral posts in Gwalior and in Morena. Party to implement OPS If the Congress forms the next government, the party will implement the old pension scheme (OPS), but the BJP is opposing scheme, but it is a must for better postretirement life. been deprived of the fruits of development, so the castebased census would bring them to the mainstream of the society and they would enjoy the fruits of growth, Nath said. CONTD. ON P6 Google to axe 12,000 workers; Pichai says sorry 26% judicial officers posts vacant in 6 states NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court has been informed about over 26 per cent of the 7,881 sanctioned posts of judicial officers lying vacant in the subordinate judiciary of six states. Madhya Pradesh, with a sanctioned strength of 2,021 judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary has 671 vacancies, while Odisha, which has a sanctioned strength of 929 judges in the lower judiciary, has 174 vacant posts. Akash Ganga team of the Indian Air Force performs during the celebration of the Raising Day of Kalaikunda Air Force Station, in Kalaikunda, on Friday NEW YORK : Google will lay off 12,000 jobs across the globe, its CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Friday, becoming the latest tech giant after Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon to retrench staff en mass amid the global economic downturn. In an email to employees, the Indian-origin CEO said: "I have some difficult news to share. We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles." Pichai said the layoffs at Google were carried out after a "rigorous review" of its operations. The jobs being eliminated "cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions," he said. CONTD. ON P6 DGCA slaps Rs 30L fine on A-I, suspends pilot’s licence NEW DELHI : Aviation regulator DGCA on Friday imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Air India as well as suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the New York-Delhi flight in which a person allegedly urinated on a female co-passenger. In the incident, which happened on November 26, 2022, the watchdog has also slapped a fine of Rs 3 lakh on Air India's Director of in-flight services for failing to discharge her duties. The enforcement actions for violation of applicable norms come nearly two months after the incident, which came to the notice of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) only on January 4.This is also the first time that DGCA has penalised an airline for unruly passenger behaviour onboard a flight. In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said it is in receipt of the DGCA order and studying it. "We respectfully acknowl- edge the gaps in our reporting and are taking relevant steps to ensure that the same are addressed. We are also strengthening our crews' awareness of and compliance with policies on the handling of incidents involving unruly pasairline the sengers," said.On spokesperson , Thursday Air India had imposed a four-month flying ban on Mishra, who is in jail now. Earlier, the airline had barred him from flying for 30 days. CONTD. ON P6 Kaali poster: SC protects filmmaker from arrest OUR BUREAU New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday protected filmmaker Leena Manimekalai from arrest and other coercive processes in connection with multiple criminal cases lodge against her in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other places over a poster of her documentary film featuring a woman dressed as Goddess Kaali and smoking. The reprieve came to her from a Bench of Chief Jus- tice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and PS Justice Narasimha after he recorded a statement in the court that she did not intent to hurt the religious sentiments of anyone and that depiction of the Goddess as to show her in an "inclusive sense." The Bench issued notices , to the states of Delhi, UP Uttarakhand and MP to club the FIRs pending at one RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 place and list the petition on Feb 20. As regards the circular look-out (LoC) issued by the Madhya Pradesh Poagainst lice Manimekalai since she is a Canadabased filmmaker, the court said no action will be taken by the airport authorities regarding the circular too. The order said: "Multiple FIRs in several states will be a matter of serious prejudice. We issue notice to all FIRs consolidated at one place and then the petitioner will be at a liberty to file a plea under Section 482 CrPC that enables a person to move the concerned HC to quash the FIRs. Advocate Kamini Jaiswal appeared for the filmmaker, born in Madurai, who shared the poster of "Kaali" with Twitter in July 2022 and said the documentary was part of the "Rhythms of Canada" segment at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. CONTD. ON P6 TEARAWAY AUSSIE QUICK MORRIS EYEING TEST DEBUT VS INDIA Pg-15 Nitish welcomes SC decision After the Supreme Court refused to entertain pleas against a caste survey in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday welcomed the court’s decision, saying that while some people were trying to stop the survey, they have been proven wrong. The Bihar government had issued a notification on June 6, 2022 to conduct a caste survey in the State. He said "Some people were trying to stop it but they have been proven wrong.” `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 22.60c. 8.60c Sunrise : 07.09 Sunset : 06.05 NEW FIVE-JUDGE SC BENCH ON MUSLIMS' RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to set up a new 5-judge Constitution Bench to hear pleas challenging the constitutional validity of polygamy and Nikah halala among the Muslims on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Delhi BJP leader Advocate Ashwini Upad. hyay The decision was taken by a two 2-judge Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha on Upadhyay's plea for a fresh 5-judge Bench as two judges of the constitution previous bench -- Justices Indira Banerjee and Hemant Gup- ta retired on September 23 and October 16 There are very important matters which are pending before a five-judge bench. We will constitute one and bear this matter in mind, theChief Justice of India said, noting that the Bench was to hear eight petitions against the practice o polygamy and nikah halala. The matter was earlier mentioned by Upadhyay on November 2. On August 30, last year, a five-judge bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee, Hemant Gupta, Surya Kant, M M Sundresh and Sudhanshu Dhulia had made the National Human Rights Commission WRESTLER PROTEST: Brijbhushan to issue statement after AGM on Jan 22 GONDA: Prateek Bhushan, son of the WFI president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, said his father will issue his statement after attending the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on January 22. Addressing a press conference, he added that a press conference will be organised in Ayodhya where Singh will issue his statement. The AGM of the Wrestling Federation will be held in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, he informed further, adding that the WFI had issued an explanation to the Sports Ministry within the stipulated 72 hours on the allegations made by wrestlers, including Olympic and Commonwealth Games medalists, in Delhi. "We're not formally authorised to speak anything on this issue. He (Brijbhushan Sharan Singh) will address the media on Jan 22nd after attending the Annual General Meet of WFI. We've Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sangita Phogat, Sakshi Malik and others arrive for a meeting with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur regarding their protest against the WFI, in New Delhi, on Friday given our official statement to the Sports ," Ministry said Pratik Bhushan Singh, son of the WFI chief at the media briefing in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh. CONTD. ON P6 (NHRC), National Commission for Women (NCW) and the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) parties to the PILs and sought their responses. While polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives, 'nikah halala' deals with the process in which a Muslim woman, who wants to re-marry her husband after divorce, has to first marry another person and get a divorce from him after the consummation. The apex court had in July 2018 considered the plea and referred the matter to a Constitution bench already tasked with hearing a batch of similar petitions. 36 students fall ill after eating mid-day meal in Khurai school FP NEWS SERVICE Khurai (Sagar) Thirty-six students of a secondary government school in Khurai town of Sagar district fell ill after consuming mid-day meal on Friday, official sources said. As soon as they ate the food, they began to vomit and complain of stomach ache. Immediately after that, the ailing children were sent to the Khurai civil hospital. The students belonged to the government secondary school in Golani village, Khurai. CONTD. ON P6