THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 67 No. 234 | TUESDAY | JULY 2, 2024 | 26 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only www.freepressjournal.in NATION Upset DK Shivakumar ready to quit Karnataka PCC post EDITIONS: MUMBAI INDORE PUNE Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 BHOPAL NASHIK KONKAN E-paper WORLD Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema Aliens don’t seem to be very fond of Bollywood Marine Le Pen’s far-right wins first round in French elections Edit No consensus in House, only confrontation FACE-OFF | Modi and Shah protest as Gandhi tries to show BJP the mirror and argues that “those who call themselves Hindu only talk about violence” Rahul, BJP eyeball to eyeball Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI To bow or not to bow is the question FPJ News Service NEW DELHI Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi engaged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in an exchange on Monday when the former questioned as to why he had bowed before PM Modi when he met him. "I noticed something. When you shook my hand, you were standing upright. But when you shook Modiji's hand, you bowed before him", Rahul Gandhi said. "Honourable Prime Minister is the leader of the House, and it is in my culture that I bow down when I meet my elders and treat as equal those who are my age", was Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's response to Rahul Gandhi. ‘‘My morals are that we bow down before elders and even touch their feet, if need be", Om Birla added. However, Gandhi did not desist and further said, 4Contd on | Nation The Lok Sabha witnessed stormy scenes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah objected to Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacking the BJP in his first speech as Leader of Opposition by asserting that “those who call themselves Hindus only talk about violence, hatred and lies ….’’ ‘‘You are not Hindus,” Rahul added with a degree of finality. Speaking during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, Gandhi began his speech by proclaiming “Jai Samvidhan,” even as BJP MPs shouted “Jai Shri Ram”. He then spoke about the “full-scale and systematic assault on the idea of India and the Constitution”. Gandhi, who earlier in the day also participated in a protest against misuse of central agencies by the government for targeting Opposition leaders, also raised the issue of opposition leaders being “per- sonally attacked” and claimed that “some are still in jai”. Then he raised the issue of BJP’s use of religion. Displaying an image of Lord Shiva in the House, to which Speaker Om Birla objected, he explained what it meant to him. “Abhayamudra is the symbol of the Congress,” he said, while pointing at the image and adding that it is “a gesture of fearlessness, a gesture of reassurance and safety, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Kiren Rijiju on Monday accused Rahul Gandhi of denigrating the position of the Leader of Opposition with his "extremely irresponsible" speech in Lok Sabha in which he made "untruthful" claims about a host of issues, including Agnipath scheme and compensation paid for land acquired from locals in Ayodhya. They also accused Gandhi of inflicting "grave insult" on the Hindus by allegedly linking them with violence and spreading untruth. BJP Rajya Sabha member Sudhanshu Trivedi said the Congress has a history of insulting Hindus and cited former home ministers P Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde's alleged Online report Court respite for Trump The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the first time that former presidents have some immunity from prosecution, extending the delay in the Washington criminal case against Donald Trump on charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss and all but ending prospects the former president could be tried before the November election. Trump posted on his social media network shortly after the decision was released: “Big win for our constitution and democracy. Proud to be an American!” Woman, 24, dies on flight A 24-year-old Indian-origin woman died on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Delhi before the plane could take off. Manpreet Kaur, who had dreams of becoming a chef, was excited at the prospect of visiting her family in India for the first time in four years. Kaur, who "felt unwell" before boarding the flight, managed to get on the plane without any issues, reported News.com.au. "When she got on the plane, she was struggling to put her seatbelt on," her friend Gurdip Grewal told the Herald Sun, reported News.com.au. "Just before her flight started, she fell in front of her seat and died on the spot." The cause of death is believed to be tuberculosis, an infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs. After nearly 77 years of independence, the criminal justice system has become fully indigenous, and will operate on the basis of Indian values and principles, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday -- the day the three new criminal laws came into force. He told a press conference that the under the new system criminal cases will reach their logical conclusion within three years of their registration. "I am confident that once all three laws are fully implemented, it will not take more than 3 years from filing of an FIR to getting justice from the Supreme Court." The new laws will replace the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Evidence Act, all codified by the Britishers. FIRST CASE: As the new criminal code, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, came into force, the first FIR was filed at 12.10 am at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh in a case of motorcycle theft. Earlier, reports had said that the first case under the new criminal laws was field against terrorism barbs. Gandhi, he said, took his oath as an MP this time not in the name of God but through solemn affirmation. "In 2014, he had taken oath in the name of 'Ishwar' in Hindi. What has changed since 2014?" he asked, noting that he was speaking about issues of religious faith in his speech on Monday. 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation Shefali Parab-Pandit & Megha Kuchik W Rahul Gandhi glares at the treasury benches. UBT wins city polls to legislative council FPJ News Service The Shiv Sena (UBT) has won elections to the state legislative council from both the Mumbai graduates' and teachers' constituencies. While Anil Parab won the graduates' seat, J.M. Abhyankar bagged the teachers' constituency. While Parab defeated Kiran Shelar of the BJP, Abhyankar trounced Shivaji Nalawade (NCP-Ajit Pawar), Shivnath Darade (BJP) and Shivaji Shendge (Shiv Sena-Shinde). Niranjan Davkhare of the BJP won from the Konkan graduates' constituency defeating Ramesh Keer of the Congress. The counting of votes in the Nashik teachers' constituency was vitiated after the discovery of five more votes than were registered. Workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and others took strong objection to this as a result of which the election result was not announced till the time of going to the press. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had fielded Sandeep Gulve and he was being opposed by Kishore Darade (Shiv Sena-Shinde), 4Contd on | Nation ith the monsoon gaining ground, there were two weather-related tragedies in the city this week. In the first incident, a 45-year-old man was killed when a 100-yearold banyan tree fell on him near BDD Chawl No. 89 in Worli in the morning. In the second incident which occurred on Sunday, a Class 5 student, Adil Chaudhary, 10, was electrocuted when he climbed an iron security wall to retrieve a ball from the roof of a police chowky, at Meenatai Thackeray Ground, New Mhada Colony, Goregaon. 4Contd on | Nation Far Right knocking at Paris gates Medha Patkar gets FPJ News Service PARIS As French President Emmanuel Macron’s  alliance was humiliated in the first round of parliamentary elections by the hard-right National Rally, riots erupted in the streets of Paris with thousands of livid Left-leaning voters making bonfire of garbage, smashing shop windows and launching fireworks. Riot cops were swarming across the city, particularly in the French capital's Place de la République, where the police Left protests sweep Paris clashed with arsonists. Macron's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is likely to be forced to resign after the second round, warned that the right was now at the 'gates of power' and begged voters to block the RN in the second round set for Sunday July 7.  Macron's centrist alliance is a straggler in a distant third place with just 20% of the vote behind the left-wing New Popular Front alliance at 28%. Smug in the belief that it is a cake walk, RN’s Marine Le Pen declared that Macron's party had been 'wiped out' and they are looking at an absolute majority in the second round of elections. Such a victory would mark the first time a hard-right force has assumed power in France since World War II amid the occupation by Nazi Germany. 5 months in prison Online Report NEW DELHI A Delhi court on Monday sentenced activist Medha Patkar to five months in jail in a defamation case filed against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in 2001. However, the order will remain suspended for 30 days. The judge added that excessive punishment of one year or two years is not being imposed, considering Patkar's age and health conditions. Patkar, who was  convicted in the case on May 24, was also ordered to pay Rs10 lakh compensation to Saxena. Saxena, who was President of an organisation called National Council of Civil Liberties, had in 2000 published an advertisement against Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan, the movement that opposed the construction of dams over the Narmada river. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), the body regulating electricity tariffs and power procurement in the state, has found discrepancies in a power tender worth around Rs 40,000 crore issued by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. In a scathing order against the MSEDCL last week, the MERC, as an adjudicating authority on power tariffs, sought justification from the state power distributor for not approaching it before starting bidding for the mega tender to procure 1,600MW of coalbased thermal power and 5,000MW solar power for Maharashtra from private players. The MSEDCL had approached the commission for an urgent hearing, to seek approval for ‘deviations in standard bidding documents’ for long-term procurement of power. According to senior MERC officials, a scrutiny had revealed several discrepancies, including lack of prior regulatory approval, full tender to a single bidder, no part-capacity bidding allowed as per TBCB guidelines, deviation in bidding sought after issuing tender, rules on weighted average tariffs not being followed and had raised significant concerns on fairness and the encouragement of competition in the bidding process for power projects. The Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) Guidelines and National Tariff Policy (NTP) explicitly mandates the Buzz over 5 Ajit MLAs’ ‘gharwapsi’ Rohit Chandavarkar MUMBAI promotion of competition and efficient resource utilisation and underscores the importance of transparency and competition. ‘‘MSEDCL submitted only a power-point presentation on the project along with its petition and prayers and the commission asked it to submit the complete Central Electricity Authority Report on the Resource Adequacy Study of MSEDCL on mega power procurement contract,” 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation Discrepancies in power tender of `40,000 cr Dharmesh Thakkar I n the electrocution tragedy, Adil, was reportedly playing cricket with his friends at the Meenatai Thackeray Ground, Goregaon east, when a ball landed on the metal roof of a police chowky, constructed by the MHADA. In his bid to retrieve the ball, he came into contact with electricity and lost his life. The police chowky was closed at the time. The Dindoshi police conducted a panchnama of the 10-year-old’s body and sent it to the trauma hospital in Jogeshwari east for post-mortem, after which the body was handed over to the family. An accidental death report (ADR) has been registered, and an investigation is underway to determine responsibility and negligence in the incident. The Dindoshi police have stated that strict action will be taken against those found culpable. Adil’s father works as a tempo driver.  A police officer said, “We have completed the panchnama and did not discover any wires at the spot. We are investigating the incident, and appropriate action will be taken against any responsible parties as per the law.” A meeting between Sharad Pawar and as many as five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the Ajit Pawar NCP, during the ongoing monsoon assembly session in Mumbai sparked a buzz at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai that these leaders were possibly in negotiation with Sharad Pawar’s NCP about a possible return to his fold.  A top NCP leader said that Ajit Pawar had now opened lines of communication with all five MLAs, to persuade them to remain with him. None of the five MLAs were available to the media for any comment or confirmation but their names are known to leaders from both sides, as the meetings between them and NCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar) state president happened in public view.  One of the MLAs is from Satara district, another from Pune district and a third one from Ahmednagar district had met  state NCP (SCP) president  Jayant Patil last week, at Vidhan Bhavan. MERC jolt for MSEDCL MUMBAI 4Contd on | Nation MUMBAI MUMBAI I am sure that once all three laws are fully implemented, it will not take more than 3 years from filing of an FIR to finally getting justice. term for sleepwalking, and the family was planning to get him treated. Mustafa was an academically bright student, having recently cleared his NEET with good marks and was looking forward to getting into a medical college.  The incident occurred between 5 and 5.15am when the rest of his family was fast asleep and Mustafa was in his room. Around 5.15am, the apartment staff informed the family about Mustafa having been found on the 3rd-floor podium, in a pool of blood. Tree-fall kills Electrocuted Worli man, 45, in a bid to pick going to work up cricket ball Key BJP ministers close ranks NEW DELHI Briefs A 19-year-old boy died after falling from his sixth-floor residence on Sunday while sleepwalking, police said on Monday. Byculla Police, who registered a case of accidental death, have identified the teenager as Mustafa Ibrahim Chunawala, a resident of Aquagem Towers on Nesbit Road in the Tara Bagh area, in Mazgaon, a 30 to 32-storey building.  In a preliminary probe, police found that Mustafa had recently been diagnosed with somnambulism – the medical 4Contd on | Nation ‘3 years from FIR to justice’ fp Aishwarya Iyer Gandhi's speech and said painting the entire Hindu community as "violent" was a serious matter. At this, Gandhi clarified that BJP and Modi are not representatives of the entire Hindu society. FPJ NEWS SERVICE Sleepwalking teen falls from high-rise MUMBAI SERIOUS MATTER: PM Modi interrupted Rahul NEW DELHI FREAK CITY MISHAPS