FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLI No. 266 | INDORE | TUESDAY | MARCH 4, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports ‘Calm Down,’ seniors whisper, spinner soars P.14 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Delhi’s sky-high expectations P.6 White-collar job market sees 4% growth in Feb Cinema And The Oscar Goes To... P.13 CHEETAH POPULATION RISES, NOT THE LOCAL ECONOMY Rajan Raikwar BHOPAL Two years after its launch, the Cheetah Project of Kuno National Park has been successful. The cheetah population is rising, and 12 big cats—five adults and seven cubs—have been set free in the wild. However, for all the chest-beating by the forest officials, the much-anticipated economic boom is yet to be seen. When the project was introduced, it was touted to boost the local economy with several hotels, restaurants, and lodges springing up around Kuno, even providing employment to local villagers.  It was also supposed to have created employment opportunities for local guides and drivers. Yet, nothing of the sort has happened. A senior forest officer of Kuno said that only one hotel has opened nearby. Tourist inflow has also remained abysmal, with a mere 3-4 tourists visiting daily.  Speaking to the Free Press, Cheetah Mitra Kuldeep Adivasi confirmed that only one big hotel has come up near Moraban and no such job opportunities have come up as Disabilities no bar for judicial jobs: SC Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The Supreme Court, on Monday, ruled that no candidate can be denied consideration for recruitment in judicial services solely due to physical disabilities. The court said that such candidates should be given due consideration during the eligibility assessment, in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The ruling came after the court struck down a provision in the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services Rules that barred visually impaired and low-vision candidates from judicial services. In 2021, an amendment to the Madhya Pradesh Services Examination (Recruitment and Conditions of Services) Rules had excluded visually impaired persons from judicial services. The Supreme Court had taken suo FIRST SF TODAY INDIA VS AUSTRALIA Dubai (DICS) 2.30 pm (IST) (See Sports Page) fp Briefs NEW DELHI IRCTC, IRFC now Navratna The government has approved the upgradation of IRCTC and IRFC to Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprises on Monday, an official statement said, adding that with this all seven listed railway PSUs have achieved the same status. MANNHEIM One dead in car attack One person was killed and others injured when a car rammed into a crowd Monday in western Germany, police said. A suspect is in custody. Police in Mannheim asked the public to stay away from the downtown area and keep inside their homes. WASHINGTON Await Trump big revelation President Donald Trump has promised a big revelation in his speech to the nation on Tuesday night as he prepares to lay his agenda for the next year. 'TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!' he announced in a Truth Social post. Senior forest officer of Kuno said that only one hotel has opened nearby CHEETAH PROJECT motu cognizance of this amendment. The court stated that persons with disabilities must not face discrimination in judicial service recruitment, and that the State must provide affirmative action to create an inclusive framework. “Any indirect discrimination resulting in the exclusion of persons with disabilities, whether through cut-offs or procedural barriers, must be intervened to uphold substantive equality,” the court ruled. The ruling clarified that visually impaired and low-vision candidates are eligible to participate in the selection process for judicial service posts. The court stated, “Visually impaired candidates cannot be said to be ‘not suitable’ for judicial service. They are eligible to participate in selection for posts in judicial service.” 4Continued on | P8 were anticipated. He claimed that land around Kuno was selling like hot cakes when the project came up. As per his knowledge, just a bigha of land was selling for over Rs 1 crore. “It seems that an economic change will take time to reach Kuno,” he said. Meanwhile, Gwalior-Chambal Commissioner Manoj Khatri sounded upbeat and said that the future appears bright as the state government is taking measures to increase tourist influx in Kuno. ‘Airstrip might bring in tourists’ senior officer of the Gwalior-Chambal belt said that tourists might start visiting if the government came up with an airstrip around Kuno. Currently, the Kuno gate is too farfrom Sheopur. In what could boost their business, hoteliers are also demanding that a new gate be set up in Sheopur. A INDIA'S GOT LATENT ROW | Supreme Court allows Ranveer Allahbadia to air 'The Ranveer Show' with riders ‘FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS NOT SERVED ON PLATTER’ PTI NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday allowed podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia to air his "The Ranveer Show" subject to maintaining "morality and decency" and an undertaking that it was suitable for all ages. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh took note of Allahbadia's submission that the podcast was his only source of livelihood and around 280 people employed by him were dependent on the show. The bench also extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Allahbadia till further orders, while asking him to join investigation in Guwahati. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and states like Maharashtra, Assam and Odisha, said the comments made on the contentious YouTube show "India's Got Latent" was not only vulgar but perverse and urged the court not to modify the condition of not airing any show. "Let him remain silent for sometime," he said. The bench told senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, who was representing Allahbadia, that fundamental rights were not (served) on a platter and came with certain restrictions. Being oversmart: SC raps Samay During the hearing, the SC took a dig at comedian Samay Raina's recent comments at his shows in Canada. Justice Surya Kant said, "These youngsters are being oversmart...they think we are an outdated generation probably." Without taking names, he went on to say, "One of them has gone to Canada and spoken there. They don't know the jurisdiction which this Court enjoys and what probably can be done. We don't want to because they are young, we understand. Behave, or else we know how to deal with you." Justice Surya Kant pointed out one of the accused in the case went to Canada and spoke on the case. "These youngsters may think that we are outdated but we know how to deal with them. Don't take the court lightly," the judge cautioned. The bench subsequently restrained Allahbadia from speaking anything related to the case on his show. The Centre in the meantime was directed to come up with a draft regulatory mechanism on social media content, which should be put in public domain aside from gathering suggestions from all stakeholders. 4Continued on | P8 More babies means more TN MPs: Stalin N Chithra CHENNAI Amid fears of Tamil Nadu losing its share of parliamentary seats during the populationbased delimitation, Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Monday said newly-wed couples must beget children soon, rather than waiting. “Earlier it was normal to advise newly-weds not to be in a hurry to beget a child. However, that situation no longer exists and we should not be saying such things too. [During delimitation] the representation in the Lok Sabha will be based on the population. So, only if we have more people will we get more MPs. We are facing this situation [of possible lower representation] because we successfully implemented family planning measures. Hence, I will no longer say, don’t have children, rather you should have them quickly,” Stalin said the family wedding of a party functionary in Nagapattinam district. On October 21, last year, Stalin had, touching upon the issue of delimitation, said in jest that couples must beget 16 children, as these were blessed in ancient times, alluding to a Tamil saying on 16 kinds of wealth. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister appealed to all political parties to sink differences and participate in the all party meeting convened by him on March 5 to discuss about the impact of the impending delimitation exercise. 4Continued on | P8 Fa(c)t of the matter: Indian woman executed in UAE Shama shames Sharma FP News Service MUMBAI In a country where cricket is religion, body-shaming the captain of Team India was never going to end well. Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed learned this the hard way when her casual swipe at Rohit Sharma's fitness turned into a full-fledged political slugfest. The now-deleted post read: "Rohit Sharma is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course, the most unimpressive captain India has ever had." The backlash was immediate, with cricket fans and the BJP charging at Congress for undermining a World Cupwinning captain. The party high command swiftly intervened, instructing Mohamed to delete the post in a bid to salvage some dignity. Damage control was in full swing, but the controversy was far from over. Enter Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy, who decided that if Congress was drowning in the controversy, he’d gladly throw them an anchor. Endorsing Mohamed’s remark, he added that Sharma's “perform- ance has been quite poor”, proving once again that Indian politics and cricket analysis make for a lethal cocktail. As expected, the BJP pounced. Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya slammed both Congress and TMC, demanding that politicians leave sportspersons alone, calling Rohit’s weight shaming attempt “outright pathetic” and “deeply shameful.” BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla took the attack up a notch, mocking the Congress: “Those who have lost 90 elections under captaincy of Rahul Gandhi are calling captaincy of Rohit Sharma unimpressive! I guess 6 ducks in Delhi and 90 election losses is impressive, but winning the T20 World Cup isn’t!” With the outrage gaining momentum, Congress strategist Pawan Khera tried his best to douse the flames, issuing a clarification that Mohamed’s views were “personal” and did not reflect the party’s stance. Mohamed, meanwhile, deleted not just the original post but all successive ones in which she had tried to defend herself. FP News Service tunate" after the government confirmed that 33-year-old Shahzadi Khan, a native of Banda, Uttar Pradesh, had been hanged. Her last rites will take place on March 5. Shahzadi's father, Shabbir Khan, had filed a plea seeking clarity about her fate, stating that the family had been in the dark since her last phone call from prison on February 14, when she told them MUMBAI Shahzadi Khan, the Indian woman sentenced to death in Abu Dhabi for allegedly murdering a four-month-old child, was executed on February 15; the Delhi High Court was informed on Monday. Justice Sachin Datta termed the development "very unfor- PTI NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea over issue of blocking of social media accounts or content without an opportunity to be heard to the creator or originator. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih sought Centre's response on the petition for quashing Rule 16 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009. The bench issued notice on the plea. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for petitioner 4Continued on | P8 Software Freedom Law Center, said no notice was given to the "originator" of the information and a notice was only sent to platforms like X. "The challenge is not that the government does not have the power to take down information, but while taking down the information, notice should be given to the person who has put that information in the public domain," she said. The plea, filed through advocate Paras Nath Singh, challenged the validity of certain provisions of the 2009 Rules. By making optional the is- suance of blocking request notice to the originator of the content, Rule 8 vested "unguided discretion" in the authorities whether or not to issue a notice to the originator, it said. The bench initially said an aggrieved person could approach the court on the issue and observed if the person was identifiable, notice would be given and if the person who hosted the information was unidentifiable, the intermediary would be served. 4Continued on | P8 Ex-SEBI chief gets a day's relief from High Court Urvi Mahajani The Bombay High Court on Monday granted relief to former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and others by directing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) “not to act” on a special court’s order. Justice SG Dige granted relief to Buch, three current Whole-Time Members of SEBI, and two officials of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) while hearing an appeal challenging the special ACB court’s directive to register a case against them in a listing fraud case. The pleas were mentioned before Justice Dige for urgent hearing. The judge said it would hear the matter on Tuesday and, until then, restrained the ACB from acting on the special court’s order. An ACB official, requesting anonymity, said, “The HC has granted a one-day stay, and the matter is listed for hearing 4Continued on | P8 Top court to examine plea over Tailpiece blocking of social media content Trump pours offgrid MUMBAI she was about to be executed. The Ministry of External Affairs informed the court that legal representation had been arranged for Shahzadi, but that the UAE takes a strict stance on crimes involving infant deaths. Shabbir Khan, however, alleged that his daughter was denied justice. tomorrow. We will act in accordance with the court’s directions.” The petitioners sought to quash the special court’s order, calling it illegal and arbitrary. They argued that the order was legally unsustainable, as they were neither issued a notice nor given a hearing before the decision was made. The case involves allegations of financial fraud and regulatory violations in the 1994 listing of a company on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the SEBI officials, while Senior Advocate Amit Desai appeared for the BSE officials. On March 1, Special Judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar directed the ACB to register an FIR against Buch, SEBI WholeTime Members Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, as well as BSE officials Pramod Agarwal and Sundararaman Ramamurthy. The court also sought a status report on the probe within 30 days. The order was based on a complaint by Sapan Shrivastava, a journalist from Dombivli, who alleged irregularities in granting listing approval in 1994 without compliance with the SEBI Act, 1992, the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018, and the SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015. The complaint alleged that SEBI officials, including Buch and several Whole-Time Members, failed to exercise regulatory oversight, allowing the company to list despite non-compliance with necessary norms. 4Continued on | P8 more scorn on Zelenskyy D ays after he  engaged in a televised spat with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, US President Donald Trump on Monday condemned the Ukraine president’s remark in which the latter said a deal to end the Ukraine-Russia war “is still very, very far away". Trump said this is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer, apparently hinting at withdrawing crucial US support for Ukraine. In a post on Truth Social, the US president said Zelenskyy doesn’t want peace as long as he has backing of America and Europe. “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?" Trump wrote.