Vol. 67 No. 110 | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 6, 2024 | 26 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in National Tourist Appreciation Day EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper Empowering youth through skilling Mod Sarkar ki di Guarantee cb 22201/13/0251/2324 bc Government of India Scan for more information Hamara sankalp Viksit Bh a k l harat Training of 1 crore 50 lakh youth under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana, employment opportunities created HOW TO KILL DEMOCRACY ED ACTION HAS FOUND ITS MARK, LOOTED MONEY HAS TO BE RETURNED PM gives Cong ‘closure notice’ CJI lashes out at returning officer of Chandigarh mayoral polls for compromising the election process by forgery and tampering ONLINE REPORT / NEW DELHI BJP leaders can’t hide their glee at the triumph THE FP BULLETIN ASI SURVEY OF MOSQUE ATTICS – FILE PIC Condemning the conduct of the Returning Officer of the Chandigarh Municipal polls as a ‘mockery of democracy', a 3-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India   Chandrachud  DY has said that the former should be prosecuted as he can be clearly seen defacing the ballot papers on video to influence the election results. ‘‘It is obvious that he has YADAV REMARKS: ORDER RESERVED T he Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on quashing criminal defamation proceedings pending against former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav for his “only Gujaratis can be thugs” remark. In November 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the trial proceedings after Tejashwi sought a transfer of criminal defamation case from Gujarat to Bihar. The complaint goes back to March last year. FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance was the kiss of death for England. Ben Stokes' men were set 399 to win the second Test but fell short of the daunting target by 106 runs in a series that is now seductively tied at 1-1, with three games to play . In a fitting finale, Bumrah clinched the win with a perfectly executed reverse swing that clipped the top of the off stump. But despite his stellar performance, he missed a 10wicket haul. CONTD. ON NATION TO EXIT Sunday outing INDIA MAY 10 MALE ends in tragedy S Father & son killed while condition of mother & daughter is serious AISHWARYA IYER / MUMBAI A 39-year-old man and his 12year-old son were killed when their two-wheeler crashed into a car at the Lalbaug flyover in Parel on Sunday night. The deceased have been identified as Sohail Shaikh, his son Mohammad Ali Shaikh. They were accompanied by Sohail’s wife Aasma, 35, and daughter Fatima, 4, and travelling on the northbound side of the flyover. The family had gone to south Mumbai for an outing and were returning home when a speeding car unexpectedly emerged ahead of them, at Dr B A Road on Lalbaug Flyover, near Nirmal Park Railway Colony . According to police, the car, being driven by Hamza Shaikh, 21, on the southbound side of the flyover was speeding, as it was late in the night, at 10.20pm. As the flyover was nearly empty on the southbound side, Hamza was driving recklessly “The driver com. pletely lost control over his vehicle, and it ended up crashing on the divider. CONTD. ON NATION ticking to his anti-India stand, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu told Parliament on Monday that the island nation will not allow “any country to interfere with or undermine our sovereignty”. He said New Delhi and Male have agreed that Indian troops will leave The Maldives by May 10, according to local media reports. President Muizzu said Indian troops on one of the three aviation platforms in the island nation will leave by March 10, and those on the other two will pull out by May 10. “Maldives will not renew the agreement with India to chart the country's inner and underwater charts. We will not allow any country to interfere with or undermine our sovereignty ,” the President said. Preschooler assaulted by watchman MEGHA KUCHIK / MUMBAI A four-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 40-year-old peon-cum-watchman of a preschool in Ashok Nagar, Kandivli east, on February 2. The accused is said to have led the child to the school washroom, luring her with a chocolate, and raping her. According to police, the child’s mother said in her The court proceeded to issue notice to Returning Officer Anil Masih and also directed that entire records of the municipal elections be sequestered with the High Court Registrar General. “Let the ballots and videography too be preserved,” the court added. It directed Masih to be present in court on the next date of hearing (February 19) to explain his conduct. CONTD. ON NATION “The third term will be about taking very big decisions…” – PM MODI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday turned his reply on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha into a scathing attack on the Congress and the Opposition INDIA formulation. Latching onto Rahul Gandhi, he remarked that his party was a “shop on the verge of closure” as it wanted to “launch the same product again and again”. In the case of the INDIA bloc, he commented that “the alignment of alliance is ruined”. Giving rhetoric full play in what may be perceived as an unabashedly election speech, the Prime Minister began his reply on a sombre note by recalling the opening day of the Budget CONTD. ON NATION Session on January 31, Bumrah’s kiss of death NEHRU BELITTLED THE MASSES A n application has been filed before the district court in Varanasi seeking an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of cellars within the premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque, which have not yet been accessed by the ASI in its earlier survey. The petitioner has contended that it is imperative to survey these cellars to establish the religious nature of the Gyanvapi premises since both Muslim and Hindu parties have made conflicting claims on such aspects. He has particularly submitted that cellars N1 to N5 in the northern part of the premises and cellars S1 to S3 in the southern part are yet to be surveyed. It is also submitted that the entrances to cellars N1 and S1 are completely obstructed, making them inaccessible. defaced the ballot papers. He needs to be prosecuted. Why is he looking at the camera? Mr Solicitor, this is a mockery and murder of democracy We are appalled. . Is this the behaviour of a returning officer? Wherever there is a cross at bottom, he does not touch it but when it is at the top, he alters it. Please tell the returning officer that the Supreme Court is watching him,”  the CJI remarked. GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR / NEW DELHI CASE AGAINST PRINCIPAL, TEACHERS complaint that her daughter, studying at a school in Ashok Nagar, had gone to school with her father as usual. But last Friday when she returned , home, she complained of pain in her private parts. When the mother asked the child what had happened, the incident of sexual assault came to light. The mother then filed a case at Samta Nagar police station and on the following day the , police arrested the peon.  As a result of the watchman’s assault, the child suffered an infection and injuries to her private parts, according to the doctor who examined and confirmed the assault. The child was in pain and identified the as- saulter. Subsequently the po, lice arrested him. The girl was admitted to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli west.  According to a source, the watchman had threatened to kill her if she spoke about the incident to anyone. However, her frightened screams brought a teacher to the scene, who reached the spot and allegedly locked up the watchman.  CONTD. ON NATION FIVE INDIANS BAG AWARDS, ZAKIR HUSSAIN PICKS UP THREE ‘Shakti’ strikes a chord at Grammys PTI / NEW DELHI Indian music came alive at the 2024 Grammy Awards with five Indian musicians, including tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, picking up the coveted prize at a glittering ceremony in Los Angeles. Hussain was India’s big winner with three Grammys, Rakesh Chaurasia picked up two. Singer Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Hussain's collaborators in the fusion group Shakti, won one Grammy each at the event held at the Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night. Shakti won the 2024 Grammy Award for best global music album for “This Mo- ment”, which features the four Indians as well as its founding member, the legendary British guitarist John McLaughlin. “This Moment”, which released to critical acclaim in June 2023, is the group's first studio album in more than 45 years. Besides his award for Shakti, Hussain won two other awards — the best global music performance for “Pashto” and best contemporary instrumental album for “ We Speak”. As Rakesh Chaurasia, nephew of legendary flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, won two Grammys as part of the ensemble of American banjo player Bela Fleck and American bassist Edgar Meyer for “Pashto” and “ We Speak”. As In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the five artists for making India proud at the Grammys, saying their “exceptional talent and dedication to music” had won hearts worldwide. CONTD. ON NATION FPJ NEWS SERVICE / NEW DELHI PM Modi is firmly rooted in the present – in the notion of a resurgent Bharat -- but at times, when rhetoric gets the better of him, he can’t help delving into the past and attacking former Prime Ministers and Congress ideologues Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. On Monday , PM Modi quoted excerpts from speeches of Nehru and Indira to assert that they had no confidence in the ability of Indians. “The Congress never trusted India's potential. They always considered themselves rulers and belittled the masses,” the Prime Minister said during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu's address. Citing a speech by Nehru from Red Fort to buttress his argument, Modi said, “Nehru had said, 'We do not work as hard as the Euro- peans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians or the Americans. Do not think that these communities became prosperous by some magic. They have achieved this by hard work, by smartness.' This shows Nehru thought Indians were lazy and did not have brains. He did not trust their potential,” the Prime Minister said. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi did not think differently either, he said. “Indi- ra ji had said from (the ramparts of) Red Fort, 'Unfortunately it is our habit that , when good work is approaching completion, we become complacent. And when an obstacle comes, we lose hope. Sometimes it seems the whole nation has accepted defeat'. Looking at Congress today it , appears that Indira ji may have underestimated the countrymen, but she evaluated the Congress very well,” he said. CONTD. ON NATION