Tuesday, July 29, 2025 | Vol. 68 No. 254 | 29 Pages Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation HAPPY NAG PANCHAMI GAMES NATION 2 deaths at Avsaneshwar temple in UP’s Barabanki after stampede mar Shravan’s Monday Shubman Gill feels India have shown with their partnerships as to why they’re a great team Cinema Biggest concerts in India to look forward to in 2025 Edit The Supreme Court ruling on SIR comes as an anti-climax IMPLORING PEACE | Rajnath on why Op Sindoor was halted ‘Pak pleaded Maharaj, ab rok dijiye, bahut ho gaya’ Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI HC PROBE ON MHADA ‘RACKET’ Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI In a scathing order, the Bombay High Court on Monday has appointed a two-member independent committee headed by former HC judge to probe the “colossal abuse of power” by MHADA officials in issuing 935 redevelopment notices under Section 79-A of the MHADA Act. The Court noted that the notices, issued mostly without jurisdiction and solely on “visual inspection”, amounted to a “racket” that undermined property rights and the rule of law. A bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor was hearing a batch of petitions, including one filed by Javed Abdul Rahim Attar, challenging these notices issued by executive engineers of the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board, a wing of MHADA. The court noted that the notices, issued mostly without jurisdiction and solely on “visual inspection”, amounted to a “racket” that undermined property rights and the rule of law. “These are not routine matters,” the judges observed. “The issue revolves around hundreds of properties being affected by en bloc notices… issued not only in patent abuse of powers but in law wholly without jurisdiction and highhandedly. It has gathered the colour of a racket/scam under a modus operandi of misusing the provisions of law.” Section 79-A empowers MHADA to compulsorily acquire and redevelop cessed buildings declared dangerous by the BMC or a Competent Authority. However, the court pointed out that this jurisdictional requirement was “wholly ignored”. 4Contd on | nation Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday initiated the “Special discussion on India’s strong, successful and decisive ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to terrorist attack in Pahalgam” in Lok Sabha, cautioning Pakistan that the operation would be resumed if another “misadventure occurs” from its side in the future. Singh said India’s approach towards Pakistan changed from “the Lahore bus journey” to the “Balakot strike’ as it looked at “a different path to ensure peace”. “We once spoke the language of the ‘Lahore bus journey’ which Pakistan did not understand; so we now respond with the Balakot strike.” Singh said the Narendra Modi government’s stand was clear that “talks and terror cannot go together”. He claimed that “on May 10, after the Indian Air Force struck multiple airfields in Pakistan, Pakistan admitted defeat and offered to cease hostilities.” “After the strikes, Pakistan’s DGMO reportedly called India’s DGMO requesting a ceasefire, saying ‘Maharaj, ab rok dijiye; bahut ho gaya’ (Sir, please stop now, it’s enough),” Singh said, adding that “this offer was accepted with the condition that Operation Sindoor was only being paused and would be resumed if any misadventure occurred again from Pakistan’s side.” 4Contd on | nation 4See also | nation ‘Congress didn’t act’ Rajnath Singh said the UPA government did not act against Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks despite having evidence of its involvement strike. He said the then External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee wrote in his memoir: “Amid heated debates within the Cabinet, there was a demand for military intervention, which I rejected." He also cited from a book by an unnamed senior IFS officer that Mukherjee wrapped up a meeting when the then Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon suggested a missile attack on the LeT headquarters in Muridke. M Saleem Pandit SRINAGAR Three Pakistani terrorists belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit were killed in an intense encounter with security forces in the Harwan area near Dachigam SC green lights Bihar draft rolls FPJ News Service MUMBAI The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay the Election Commission of India’s plan to publish the draft electoral rolls for Bihar on August 1, part of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. However, the court kept the process under tight judicial scrutiny, warning it could strike down the entire SIR if found unconstitutional or improperly executed. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing urgent pleas from opposition MPs and civil society groups, led by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Petitioners argued the SIR process was The court reaffirms earlier suggestion that Aadhaar cards, EPICs, and ration cards be accepted as valid documents. National Park, Srinagar, on Monday afternoon. The operation, named Op Mahadev, took place in the dense forests near the foothills of the 13,000-foot-high Mahadev mountain. Among the slain terrorists was Suleiman Shah, ident- DOG BABU GETS BIHAR RESIDENCY Dheeraj Kumar PATNA rushed and risked disenfranchising millions—especially Dalits, Muslims, women, and migrants—due to burdensome documentation requirements. While refusing interim relief, Justice Kant assured that if illegality was found, “this court will quash everything then and there.” The court will set a schedule for final arguments on Tuesday. In a scandal that’s gone barking mad, Bihar’s Masaurhi subdivision has pulled off the ultimate bureaucratic tailspin — a residence certificate was dutifully issued last week to one Dog Babu, a four-legged citizen of no known employment, no known address (beyond a municipal lane in Kaulichak), and no known ambitions apart from chasing the odd cycle and sniffing indiscriminately. What’s more, the said Dog Babu was listed as the offspring of Kutta Babu (father) and Kutiya Devi (mother), presumably longtime residents of the neighbourhood garbage heap. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation Online Report A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih questioned Justice Varma, a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court, under the scanner for a cash find in his official premises, on why he participated in the inquiry if he believed the process itself was invalid. The court also The court asks why he took part in the probe if he believed the process was invalid. It also asked why he waited until the panel filed its findings to challenge the procedure. asked why he waited until the committee submitted its findings to challenge the procedure. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition on Monday filed by Justice Yashwant Varma challenging an in-house committee report that indicted him after unaccounted cash was recovered from his official residence in Delhi. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Justice Varma, argued that the in-house inquiry process was unconstitutional and violated principles of natural justice. He said the process had been politicised by the release of video footage and public disclosure of the allegations. 4Contd on | nation offgrid ‘Commander-in-Cheat’: Trump golf scandal Deeksha Pandey MUMBAI US President Donald Trump has been accused of cheating - in golf. A now-viral video has sparked widespread criticism, with many accusing Trump of cheating after one of his caddies was seen discreetly placing a ball on the fairway for him. As per the Daily Mail, the video was filmed from inside a building overlooking the Turnberry golf course. Trump is seen driving up the left side of the fairway in xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday clarified there was no conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump between 22 April (Pahalgam attack) — when Trump called to express sympathy—and 17 June (PM’s Canada visit), when he spoke to Modi again during the latter’s visit to Canada. “I want to make two things very clear: at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage with trade and what was going on. Secondly, there was no call between the Prime Minister and President Trump from 22 April to 17 June,” Jaishankar told the Lok Sabha. He added that the request for halting military action came from Pakistan through the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) channel, not via American mediation. E Pahalgam ‘mastermind’, 2 others killed in encounter Justice Varma comes under SC scanner NEW DELHI ‘No Modi, Trump call’ a golf cart, with a sand bunker in front of him and patches of fescue grass nearby. Two caddies walk ahead of his cart. As they pass the area where Trump’s shot would have supposedly landed, one of the caddies subtly stops, bends down, and drops a golf ball onto the fairway - placing it in a favorable lie. A few seconds later, Trump steps out of his golf cart holding a club and walks toward the freshly dropped ball. He prepares to take a shot, suggesting that he’s either unaware the ball was placed or is pretending it was his original shot. The video ends before he swings, but the implication is clear: this ball didn’t land there naturally, it was intentionally placed. 4Contd on | nation ified as the mastermind behind the Pahalgam terror attack at Baisaran Valley. Suleiman, also known as Hashim Moosa, had served in the Pakistan Army. The Jammu and Kashmir Police had earlier announced a ₹20 lakh reward for information leading to his capture. The two other terrorists were identified as Abu Hamza and Yasir, both Pakistani nationals. Yasir is also believed to have been involved in the Pahalgam killings. 4Contd on | nation DIVYA IS NEW ENDGAME DIVA Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI Maharashtra’s Divya Deshmukh has created history by becoming the first Indian woman to clinch the FIDE Women’s World Cup after beating compatriot Koneru Humpy in a gripping tie-breaker on Monday in Batumi, Georgia. With the win, the 19-year-old from Nagpur has attained the Grandmaster (GM) tag as well which players are bestowed with in the event of clinching a World Cup victory. Divya has become only the fourth woman from India to become a Grandmaster and the 88th overall. Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and R Vaishali are the other Indian women players who have attained the muchcoveted Grandmaster tag before her from India. The final moments of the There’s a lot more to achieve. I’m hoping this is just the start. Divya Deshmukh FIDE Women's Chess World Cup winner game were tense with the two battling for world supremacy with the summit clash being the first time that two Indian women were pitted against each other. Divya forced the veteran Humpy to retire on the 75th move after the latter committed a final minute blunder that gave the young lass the opportunity to advance her pawn to potentially be promoted. 4Contd on | nation