FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 14 No. 256 | BHOPAL | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in I never comment on Taiwan: Trump P.10 Briefs JERUSALEM Palestinian prisoner freed after 45 yrs The longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, Nael Barghouti who spent more than four decades behind bars, walked free on Thursday under the latest hostageprisoner swap of a fragile Gaza truce. Barghouti spent 45 years behind bars, including 34 of them consecutively, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group. He arrived in Egypt on Thursday, after being expelled from the Palestinian territories upon his release. Barghouti was first arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Israeli officer and attacks on Israeli sites. iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL SPORTS World fp ESTD-1983 RAIN RUINS PAK’S HOPES UJJAIN PUNE INDORE NASHIK E-paper Edit Tharoor: A lone wolf P.6 Cinema Michelle Trachtenberg passes away TOXIC WASTE INCINERATION | Supreme Court refuses to interfere with MP HC directives on chemical waste disposal ALL SET FOR UC WASTE DISPOSAL TRIAL RUN 500 policemen deployed in Pithampur Nehru policies are Hindikaran of western principles: Shah Takes part in a function held on birth anniv of Nanaji Deshmukh Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL/MHOW Preparations are underway in Pithampur to incinerate 10 tonnes of Union Carbide waste, part of a 337-tonne stockpile, following the Supreme Court's refusal to interfere with the Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) directives. The apex court deferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court's order, which mandated the waste's disposal. The court directed opposing parties, including civil society groups, to address their concerns to the HC. Subsequently, the authorities have increased security in Pithampur, deploying nearly 500 policemen and officers from 24 stations. Senior officials are also present. Barriers were installed at many places in the town and police forces were deployed at various places. Pithampur SDM, Pramod Gurjar, confirmed preparations for the initial trial burn- MUMBAI round 377 tonnes of hazardous waste from the now defunct UCIL factory was shifted to Pithampur industrial area, about 250 km away from Bhopal and 30 km from Indore, for disposal at a plant. A ighly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide factory during the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing 5,479 people and maiming more than five lakh. It is considered to be among the worst industrial disasters in the world H ing of 10 tonne waste as per the High Court's order. Earlier in the day, the SC declined to intervene in the disposal of UCC chemical waste as directed by the HC. The Court granted parties concerned the liberty to raise their grievances before the High Court. A bench of Justice BR Gavai and JusticeAG Masih heard- the petition challenging Madhya Pradesh High Court's direction regarding the transportation and disposal of 337 metric tonnes (MT) of UCC chemical waste from the site of the Bhopal gas tragedy to Pithampur. Following the issuance of a notice by the SC on February 17, the High Court on February 18 ordered a trial run of 10 metric tonnes starting from February 27. The Supreme Court was informed that the High Court had constituted a task force committee consisting of 15 technical experts to oversee the entire issue of waste disposal. 4Continued on | P8 Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said the government led by Jawaharlal Nehru made the policies for the country through ‘Hindikaran’ of western principles. He made the statement on the 15th death anniversary of Nanaji Deshmukh on Thursday when he also unveiled a statue of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay in Chitrakoot. Shah said Upadhyay had spoken about ‘Ekatma Manawatavad (integral humanism)’ at that time and saw the model of development in the form Antyodaya. Indira Gandhi destroyed freedom during the Emergency, Shah said, adding that people raised their voice ‘Anticipatory bail allowed in GST, customs cases even without FIR’ PTI NEW DELHI The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken up with the US a request for an urgent visa by the family of an Indian student who is battling for life following a road accident in California, sources said. Neelam Shinde from Maharashtra's Satara was critically injured in the accident on February 14 and has been in a coma at a hospital since then. Shinde reportedly suffered severe injuries to her head, hand and chest. Her family has sought an urgent visa to travel to the US to be by her side. The MEA has taken up the matter with the US. The US US grants emergency visa interview The United States has scheduled an emergency visa interview for the father Indian student who has been in a coma at a California hospital. The interview will take place at 9 am on Friday. side is looking into the formalities for early grant of visa for the applicant's family, the sources cited above said. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule flagged the case on Wednesday. 4Continued on | P8 Minor rape victim receives 28 stitches on her private parts Victim under treatment in Gwalior Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL A five-year-old-girl was brutally raped by her neighbor ‘Bhaiya’ when she was alone at home in Shivpuri district. Gwalior doctors gave 28 stitches on her private parts to save her life, police said on Thursday. Shivpuri district’s Karera police station in-charge Amit Chaturvedi said that the incident occurred on February 22, when the girl was playing in her house and was alone. The accused who is 17years-old, is the neighbour of the family and they know each People in Shivpuri held demonstrations and demanded capital punishment for the accused other very well and she calls her Bhaiya. On the day the boy boozed and reached the girl’s house and asked the girl to play with him and took the girl on the roof of the house. As soon as they reached there, the boy caught hold of the girl and started the act. The girl opposed on which the accused banged her head on the wall. The girl became frightened and unconscious. The boy bit her private part. The act was so brutal that her private part had broken and she was severely injured. When the boy was doing the act, someone in the family came to know and they rushed to the roof. They caught him and called the police. The police detained the accused and sent him to juvenile home. The girl first was taken to nearby hospital and after primary treatment she was referred to Gwalior. The dean of Gajraja Medical college Dr RKS Dhakad told Free Press that that the act was so brutal that the body had torn apart. Three doctors gynaecologist, anaesthesia and plastic surgeons had done the surgery of the girl and her life was saved. The people in Shivpuri demonstrated and demanded capital punishment for the accused. HC ORDERS DISMANTLING OF INDORE BRTS Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL After dismantling Bhopal BRTS, High Court, Jabalpur bench ordered to dismantle Indore Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). Rs 350 crore was spent for construction of 11.8 km long Indore BRTS. A bench of chief justice Suresh Kumar Kait and justice Vivek Jain ordered the removal of the corridor following the report of an expert committee. The HC ruling came months after Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced in November last year, that the govern- ment would scrap BRTS corridor in Indore that was built at an estimated cost of Rs 350 crore. The government had previously scrapped the BRTS corridor built in Bhopal. Challenging the BRTS project, social activist Kishore Kodwani had filed two petitions in Indore bench of the Failed state that survives on int’l handouts: India slams Pak PTI GENEVA India has slammed Pakistan after it raked the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in the UN Human Rights Council, saying the "failed state" that survives on "international handouts" "dutifully" spreads "falsehoods handed down by its military-terrorist complex." India exercised its Right of Reply at the high-level segment of the 58th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday to lodge a strong retort to Pakistan after it raised, as it habitually does, the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at the multilateral global organisation. "India is exercising its Right of Reply in response to the baseless and malicious references made by Pakistan. It is regrettable, yet unsurprising, to see Pakistan's so-called leaders and delegates continuing to dutifully spread falsehoods handed down by its military-terrorist complex," Counsellor at India's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva Kshitij Tyagi said. Delivering India's powerful response, Tyagi said it is unfortunate that this Council's time continues to be "wasted by a failed state, which thrives on instability and survives on international handouts. Its rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy; its actions, of inhumanity; and its governance, of incompetence." 4Continued on | P8 High Court. In 2013, the Indore bench constituted a 5member expert committee headed by senior advocate PK Saxena to examine the utility of the BRTS corridor. The committee had said in its report that no other vehicle should be allowed in the BRTS lane. The Indore High Court constituted a new committee in September last year and issued instructions to submit a report regarding whether the BRTS project of about 11.8 km from Niranjanpur to Rajiv Gandhi statue in the city is practical in the current situ- ation or not. For this, the High Court had provided eight weeks to the committee. After this, in November 2024 both the petitions were transferred to the main bench in Jabalpur for hearing. During the last hearing, the division bench headed by Chief Justice of the High Court had found that a meeting of the committee was held while the petition was pending in Indore bench. After the transfer of the petition to the main bench, no meeting of the committee has been held. 4Continued on | P8 against her within 19 months. Shah said Deshmukh had played an important role in forming the Janata Party, and afterwards, any government could barely think about imposing an emergency in the country. The public forces many leaders to bid farewell to politics, but Desmukh had left politics after he attained 60 years of age. From 60 years to 100, Deshmukh continued to serve the people, but today, if a politi- cian is asked to sit in the second number chair, he feels bad, Shah said.Similarly, whenever some other person comes in the way in a photo session, it causes problems for him, but Deshmukh stuck to his principles throughout his life, Shah said. According to Shah, Deshmukh was without any enemy, and even the opposition parties were scared of criticising him. 4Continued on | P8 Delhi court seeks trial records from Mumbai PTI 26/11 TERROR ATTACK NEW DELHI PTI NEW DELHI MEA takes up with US visa issue of family of injured Indian student Union Minister Amit Shah unveils a statue of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay in Chitrakoot . CM Yadav was also present In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that the provision of anticipatory bail is applicable to the Goods and Services Act and customs law and persons can move courts for pre-arrest bail even if an FIR is not in place. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi had reserved the verdict on May 16, last year on a batch of pleas challenging the penal provisions in the Customs Act, 4Continued on | P8 A Delhi court has sought the trial records of 26/11 terror attack from a Mumbai court ahead of the expected extradition of the crime's alleged mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India from the US. District judge Vimal Kumar Yadav directed the officials of a Mumbai court to supply the records in an order passed on January 28. The order came on a plea of the National Investigation Agency, seeking the retrieval of the records from Mumbai. The trial court records were previously sent to Mumbai due to the presence Union Cabinet okays changes to Waqf Bill Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI The Union Cabinet is learnt to have approved 14 changes to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill at a meeting on February 19. Though no official statement has been released by the Cabinet till date, as per sources it accepted 14 of the 23 changes to the Bill which had been proposed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The revised Bill is now expected to be placed before both Houses in the second half of the Budget Session that would commence from March 10. The 14 changes that have been approved to the Bill include provision for distinguishing between the mandatory two non-Muslim members -as specified in the original draft of the bill -- and a nominated ex-officio member (Muslim or non-Muslim); and having a state appointed officer determine if a property is 'waqf' as against the original draft’s proposal to leave this to to the District Collector. Another proposal that has been approved if for ensuring that the law does not apply retrospectively if a property is registered. Congress MP Imran Masood had told the JPC that nearly 90 per cent of Waqf properties are not registered. The new Bill has also incorporated the suggestion that anyone who wants to donate land must “show or demonstrate that she/he is practicing Islam for at least five years” and submit that “...there is no contrivance involved in the dedication of such property”. 4Continued on | P8 of multiple cases related to the 26/11 attacks in both cities. The US Supreme Court on January 21, turned down a review petition by Rana, dismissing his last legal challenge against his extradition to India in the case. A court in the US previously ruled that Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Rana could be extradited to India where he is wanted in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. 4Continued on | P8 CAG report on Delhi liquor policy referred to PAC PTI NEW DELHI The CAG report on the Delhi liquor policy has been referred to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for examination, with the panel expected to submit its report within three months, Speaker Vijender Gupta said Thursday. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the regulation and supply of liquor in Delhi, which was tabled in the house on February 25, has highlighted irregularities in the implementation of the excise policy by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. 4Continued on | P8 offgrid Oscar-winning actor, wife, dog found dead IANS LOS ANGELES Iconic US actor Gene Hackman, renowned for his Oscar-winning role as an American drug enforcement agent in thriller "The French Connection", Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor, and the FBI agent investigating the death of civil rights activists in the American South in "Mississippi Burning", was found dead at his home in Santa Fe in New Mexico. He was 95. His wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog were also found dead with him, as per local law en- forcement authorities."We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail," the Sante Fe County Sheriff's office said in a statement." This is an active investigation - however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.""On 26 February, 2025, at approximately 1:45 pm, Santa Fe County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and a dog were found deceased," the Sheriff's office said.Apart from Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in "The French Connection", Eugene 'Gene' Allen Hackman, whose film career lasted over six decades, also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Clint Eastwoodhelmed Westen "Unforgiven". 4Continued on | P8