WEDNESDAY 26 JUNE 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ASSANGE ON HIS WAY TO A U.S. COURT, AND FREEDOM SHIFTING FRONTS P6 SENSEX 78,053.52712.45 WEATHER Generally cloudy sky. Possibility of thundery development towards afternoon / evening. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 33 °C and 26 °C respectively. RAINFALL: Trace RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 89 % Max: 34.2 °C (+1.2) SUN RISES 04:54 hrs MOON RISES 21:33 hrs P9 NIFTY 23,721.30183.45 Kodikunnil Suresh bers to be present in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday from 11 a.m. till the end of the proceedings, which include the Speaker’s election, and support the party stand. BJP leader Piyush Goyal said there was no precedent to suggest that the Deputy Speaker's post must go to the Opposition, and the Opposition was needlessly choosing a showdown. He said the Opposition insisted that first the name of the Deputy Speaker should be decided “and only then we will support the Speaker candidate. We condemn such politics.” He said a good tradition would have been to choose the Speaker unanimously. The Speaker does not belong to any party or opposition; he belongs to the entire House, he said. Similarly, he said, the Deputy Speaker also does not belong to any party or group; he belongs to the entire House. Such conditions that only a particu- or the first time in the Lok Sabha, there will be an election for the Speaker’s post as the Government and the Opposition failed to reach a consensus, with former Speaker Mr Om Birla filing his nomination on behalf of the Government and Mr K Suresh of the Congress doing so on behalf of the Opposition. So far, there has been a tradition to decide on the Lok Sabha Speaker through consensus between the ruling party and the Opposition. However, this tradition has been disrupted this year when the Congress Party-led INDIA bloc insisted on securing the Deputy Speaker’s post in exchange for supporting the NDA candidate for Speakership. Both the ruling BJP as well as the main Opposition Congress Party, have issued whips to their mem- F The Trinamul Congress was not consulted on the fielding of Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress as the INDIA bloc’s joint nominee for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, the TMC’s national general secretary and newly re-elected Lok Sabha MP, Abhishek Banerjee said on Tuesday. Mr Banerjee, who took oath as a member of the 18th Lok Sabha this afternoon, told mediapersons that his party was not consulted by Congress before fielding the candidate for the Speaker’s election, terming it as an unilateral decision. lar person or from a particular party should be the Deputy Speaker, do not fit into any tradition of the Lok Sabha, he said. Efforts by the BJP's leadership to broker a consensus on the position of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha came to naught when the INDIA bloc decided to field eight-time MP K Suresh for the post. His nomination followed the filing of a nomination by Modi’s dig at Cong on Emergency; says no right to profess love for Constitution STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JUNE Marking the 49th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the dark days showed how the Congress subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution. Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for the Constitution. His response came a day after the INDIA bloc mounted a massive protest inside the Parliament premises against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. In a series of posts on ‘X’, Mr Modi wrote: "Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India which every Indian respects greatly," “Those who imposed the Passenger booked to travel on AI’s UK flight from Kochi taken into custody for bomb threat AGENCIES KOCHI, 25 JUNE In a bizarre incident, the Cochin International Airport police on Tuesday took into custody a man who was booked to travel on an Air India flight from Kochi to London, after he was identified as the sender of a bomb threat to the airline. Now, the 29-year-old Malappuram resident Suhaib is in the custody of the police and is being interrogated. Police became alert as Suhaib, due to catch the London flight on Tuesday, was behaving suspiciously at the airport. The police personnel questioned him and later it was discovered that it was he who had sent a threatening mail to the airline on Monday night from his official email. He arrived at the Cochin International Airport along with his SILVER 91,000700 STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 25 JUNE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JUNE Market closes at fresh record highs: The benchmark indices closed at fresh record highs on Tuesday led by gains in banking and IT stocks coming a day after RBI data showed the current account surplus stood (Page 8) at $ 5.7 billion. P12 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 82.940.24 HC stays Delhi CM Kejriwal’s bail order Trinamul not consulted on Oppn candidate for Speaker: Abhishek Om Birla Atishi hospitalized; ends fast: AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday said Delhi Minister Atishi had to end her indefinite hunger strike over Delhi's water crisis after her health deteriorated and she was hospitalised. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, he said Atishi's health took a hit after fasting for nearly five days, and her blood sugar level dropped to as low as 36 mg/dL, following which she had to be admitted to the hospital at around 3.45 am. ROHIT’S KNOCK GIVES INDIA A BOOST INDIA bloc's candidate K Suresh of Congress to take on BJP’s Om Birla in contest for the post Full Moon on 06 July The widow of a CRPF jawan who lost his life in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma in a Maoist attack, mourns, in Kanpur on Tuesday.  ANI GOLD 72,230810 Govt, Opposition to fight it out for LS Speaker’s chair Min: 29.0°C (+2.2) SUN SETS 18:25 hrs MOON SETS 07:54 hrs THUMBNAILS P4 ` vs $ 83.44 Min. 64 % TEMPERATURE JAGAN APPREHENDS DENIAL OF L.O.P STATUS . BY TDP-LED ANDHRA GOVT The 29-yr-old Suhaib is in the custody of the police and is being interrogated. family and the family members are also being questioned now. According to airport officials, the threatening email was sent to the Air India call centre at Mumbai late on Monday night. At the time of the receipt of the threat, the Air India flight had departed from Delhi for Cochin Airport. When the flight landed at Kochi, it was quickly moved to the isolated parking area of the airport and after a thorough check, it was found to be a hoax threat.On questioning Suhaib it was revealed that he was nursing a grudge against the airline as his daughter fell sick after consuming food on an AI flight a while ago. Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution," he wrote. The Mr Banerjee said party chief Mamata Banerjee will take a decision on backing Mr Suresh. Sources said the Trinamul Congress (TMC) has not signed the nomination papers of Mr Suresh for the election of Speaker and may not attend an opposition meeting called tonight (Tuesday) to evolve a strategy for the Speaker's election. Earlier, the pro tem Speaker, Bhartruhari Mahtab, administered the oath to Mr Banerjee, which he read out in Bengali. Later, all the 29 Trinamul Congress MPs took oath. Mr Shatrughan Sinha, Mr Irfan Pathan and Mr Kirti Azad took the oath in Hindi. The TMC has eight new MPs. the BJP's Kota MP Om Birla for the post. Mr Birla was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha as well. This will be the first time that elections will be held for the Speaker of the Lower House. Since Independence, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the Opposition. There was, however, no Deputy Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had reached out to the Opposition leaders on behalf of the government in a bid to build a consensus. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that they had conveyed to Mr Singh that the Opposition was ready to extend support to NDA's Speaker candidate, but the post of Deputy Speaker should be given to the Opposition. TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee at the Parliament House during the Second day of the 18th Lok Sabha session, in New Delhi on Tuesday. ANI ‘PM may visit Russia in July’ AGENCIES MOSCOW, 25 JUNE PM added that the mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive in the same party which imposed it. “They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again," he said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the episode is the biggest example of the Congress's long history of attempts to kill democracy. BJP president J P Nadda said on 'X' that those who claim to be the guardians of Indian democracy today had spared no efforts to suppress the voices raised in the defence of constitutional values. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JUNE Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will for now remain behind bars, as Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the trial court's order granting bail to the AAP chief in the money laundering case stemming from the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. The High Court, which had earlier reserved its order on the matter, on Tuesday pronounced its verdict allowing the Directorate of Enforcement's plea seeking stay on the order granted by the trial court on 20 June. The HC judge has said that the trial court did not fully consider the material submitted by the anti-money laundering agency, and also did not give adequate opportunity to the ED to argue its case. “The Vacation Judge while passing the Impugned Order did not appropriately appreciate the material/documents submitted on record and pleas taken by ED and the averments/grounds as raised in the petition under section 439(2) of the Code require serious consideration while dealing with said peti- Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JUNE India and Russia are making arrangements for an upcoming visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Tuesday. According to RIA, a diplomatic source indicated that PM Modi's visit may take place in July. Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs aide, Yuri Ushakov, was quoted as saying that the Indian Prime Minister's visit was being prepared but did not commit to a date. Mr Ushakov said the date will be announced jointly later. There is as yet no confirmation by the Indian side on the possible visit by Mr Modi. The Congress on Tuesday announced the name of party leader Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Talking to reporters , Congress General Secretary incharge of Organisation KC Venugopal said: “Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson (Sonia Gandhi) wrote a letter to the ProTem Speaker informing the decision of appointment of Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha." The senior Congress leader said that other office bearers will be decided later. Earlier this month, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had unanimous- ly passed a resolution urging party leader Rahul Gandhi to take the post of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. “Entire CWC feels that in the current scenario of Indian politics, for a better and stronger and vigilant Opposition, Rahul ji should be the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha,” Mr Venugopal had said then. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi won from Wayanad and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats. He later resigned from his Wayanad seat. Porsche case: Bombay HC grants bail to juvenile accused in Pune accident case, says JJB’s remand orders illegal AGENCIES Even though the minor accused in the accident has been released, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde assured that the case has been taken up again for investigation.He also clarified that the case will be fast-tracked. MUMBAI, 25 JUNE Bombay High Court granted bail to the juvenile accused in the Pune car accident case on Tuesday. The court ordered the release of the minor into the care and custody of his paternal aunt. The bench noted the Juvenile Justice Board's ( JJB) remand orders were illegal and passed without jurisdiction. Speaking to the media about the case's development, Prashant Patil, the advocate for the minor accused, said: “The child in conflicting law was arrested on 19 May 2024 and was released on bail. After his release on bail on 22 May 2024, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) took custody of the child under a conflicting law." "That particular custody was illegal per se. Today we challenged the three remands of the JJB before the High Court. The writ of Habeas Corpus was filed by the paternal aunt of the child in conflicting law. Section 12 of the particular act was the backbone of the writ and we argued that, be it a bailable offence or a non-bailable offence, the code of CrPc does not apply to a child of conflicting law and that's why we requested his immediate release," he said. “Today, the honourable Bombay High Court set aside those orders and ordered the immediate release of the child under conflicting laws," said Mr Patil. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met the parents of the two engineers who died in the Pune Porsche crash case on Monday and assured them the guilty would not be spared. Mr Shinde met Omprakash Awadhiya, father of Anish Koshta, and Suresh Koshta, father of Ashwini Koshta, and consoled them. CMYK He said that the incident was unfortunate and that the culprits would be severely punished. Mr Shinde spoke to the Commissioner of Police (CP) Pune and directed him to initiate strict action against illegal pubs and bulldoze all structures that are against the building rules. He also directed the police to initiate renewed action against drug peddlers to make Pune a drug-free city, the chief minister’s office said in a press statement. Even though the minor accused in the accident has been released, Mr Shinde assured that the case has been taken up again for investigation. He also clarified that the case will be fast-tracked. The Chief Minister stated on his 'X' handle: “We fully understand the grief caused by the sudden death of one's young children. So, we decid- ed to provide Rs 10 lakh each from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund as a special consideration to the families of their two deceased children." Mr Shinde added that the government is making efforts to track down all the culprits and ensure that they are punished. The two IT professionals, who were travelling on a bike, died on May 19 at 2.30 am after a car allegedly driven by a drunk 17-year-old boy crashed into them. The investigation unfolded like a bag of worms as his kin allegedly tried to obliterate the evidence against him. On 21 June, the Pune district court granted bail to Vishal Agarwal, the father of the accused teenager, in the primary case where he was booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. tion. Accordingly, the present application is allowed and the operation of the Impugned Order is stayed,” the Court said. The Court had fixed the main matter for July, where the federal probe agency had challenged the order by the trial court granting regular bail to Delhi CM in the (now scrapped) Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case. On Monday, the ED had filed written submissions before the high court, against any relief to the Delhi CM in the liquor policy-linked money laundering case. The agency opposed the order by the trial court granting bail to the AAP chief, calling it “illegal” and “perverse”. Meanwhile, Advocate Rishikesh Kumar, counsel for Mr Kejriwal, while talking to a news agency has said: “We have already challenged the interim stay in the Supreme Court. Today's judgment is on the same lines, so because we have already challenged the interim stay in the Supreme Court, the challenge of which is listed for tomorrow, today we are filing an application with a copy of this order in the Supreme Court that it should be considered...." Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party has said that it does not agree with the HC's order. Speaking to a news agency, AAP's chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar has said that the party's legal team is looking into the matter. Centre denies not consulting Bengal govt on water talks with B’desh STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JUNE The Centre on Tuesday rejected the claim made by the West Bengal government that it was not consulted on the Internal Review of the IndiaBangladesh Treaty of 1996 on Sharing of the Ganga/Ganges Waters at Farakka. “On 24 July 2023, the Government of India sought the nominee of the WB Government in the Committee for carrying out an Internal Review of the IndiaBangladesh Treaty of 1996 on Sharing of the Ganga/Ganges Waters at Farakka,” official sources said. The sources claimed that on 25 August 2023, the Bengal government conveyed the nomination of Chief Engineer (Design & Research), Irrigation & Waterways Directorate, Government of West Bengal, for the panel.The sources said that on 5 April 2024, the Joint Secretary (Works), Irrigation & Waterways Department of the WB Government, conveyed its total demand for the next 30 years from the stretch downstream of the Farakka Barrage. The Centre's statement came a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed resentment over the reported discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the sharing of the water of Ganga and Teesta, bypassing the state government.