THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 67 No. 242 | THURSDAY | JULY 11, 2024 | 29 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only www.freepressjournal.in Briefs CENTRE NOT FOR RE-TEST Two days after the Supreme Court observed that the sanctity of the NEET-UG 2024 has been “breached”, the central government on Wednesday filed an affidavit before the apex Court in paper leak row, saying that it is not in support of a re-test citing an analysis by IIT Madras which suggests there was no “mass malpractice” in the exam. The government said that it is ensuring no candidate guilty of malpractice gets any benefit but 23 lakh students are not required to be burdened with a re-test on “unsupported apprehensions”. The government said that an exhaustive technical evaluation on data related to NEET-UG 2024 exam was conducted by IIT Madras and the analysis shows “no indication of mass malpractice”. The government also added that the data analysis shows that no local set of candidates benefited leading to abnormal scores. Observing that the sanctity of the NEET-UG 2024 has been “breached”, the Supreme Court on Monday said a re-test may be ordered if the entirety of the process is affected. PUNE IAS TRAINEE IN ROW MUMBAI INDORE PUNE BHOPAL Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema 'No protein powder is going to make you sturdy' Edit A productive summit in Moscow DIVORCED MUSLIM WOMEN CAN SEEK MAINTENANCE: SC Online Report NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a divorced Muslim woman can file a claim for maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against her former husband, reports Bar and Bench. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Justice  Augustine George Masih pronounced separate but con- curring judgments upholding Muslim woman's right after a Muslim man (petitioner) challenged a Telangana High Court direction to pay Rs 10,000 interim maintenance to his former wife. "We are hereby dismissing the criminal appeal with the major conclusion that Section 125 CrPC would be applicable to all women (including divorced) and not just married women,"  Justice Nagarathna said pronouncing the verdict. The court also held that if during the pendency of application under Section 125 CrPC, the concerned Muslim woman gets divorced, then she can take recourse to Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019. The 2019 Act provides remedy in addition to the remedy under Section 125 CrPC, the court added. 4Contd on | nation Upkeep is not charity but a matter of right Legal Eagle Olav Albuquerque L aw changes according to changing circumstances which is why the Supreme Court has moved away from not tampering with the personal law of any religion to declaring that divorced Muslim women have a fundamental right to maintenance from their earning husbands. By declaring that the right to alimony is “not a matter of charity” but a fundamental right, the apex court has laid the maxim that gender neutral laws override skewed personal laws in a secular state, so that secularism becomes syn- onymous with justice. Till date, the Supreme Court was wary of interfering in the personal laws of the Hindus or Muslims because those involved meddling with matters of faith. Justice Indu Malhotra dissented when the Sabarimala verdicts were delivered by opining the apex court should not interfere in matters involving religion which is an article of faith. Divorced Muslim women, who are unable to maintain themselves, can seek maintenance by filing an application under section 125 of the CrPC from their in-laws or other relatives who have sufficient means. Section 125 applies to wives, children, 4Contd on | nation Online Report ALLAHABAD The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday denied bail to an accused in a case of alleged illegal conversion, observing that the right to freedom of conscience and religion cannot be construed as the right to conver- sion, reports Bar and Bench. Justice  Rohit Ranjan Agarwal opined that the Constitution of India permits citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion, but does not allow conversion of religion. “The Constitution confers on each individual the fundamen- tal right to profess, practice and propagate his religion. However, the individual right to freedom of conscience and religion cannot be extended to construe a collective right to proselytize; the right to religious freedom belongs equally to the person converting and the individual sought to be con- verted,” the court said. The court had made similar observations in an order passed on July 1. “If this process is allowed to be carried out, the majority population of this country would be in minority one day, and such religious congregation should be immediately stopped where the ■ Maintenance is not charity but a fundamental right of married women ■ Right transcends religious boundaries ■ Men need to recognise indispensable role played by homemakers and the sacrifices they make for family ■ It is necessary for husbands to provide financial support to wives who do not have an independent source of income. ■ Man must give wife access to his financial resources, possibly through a joint account or via an ATM card conversion is taking place and changing religion of citizen of India," the court had said in respect of conversions. The accused persons had allegedly asked the informant to leave the Hindu religion and accept Christianity so that 4Contd on | nation Missing 'Sheena' bones CBI slaps cases on NEERI scientists are found in CBI store Charul Shah Joshi The CBI has registered three separate cases on allegations of criminal conspiracy and corruption based on a complaint against 10 accused, including the former Nagpur director of CSIR NEERI, and four scientists of the institute. The alleged corruption involved extending favours to private companies in awarding After claiming that a crucial piece of evidence in the Sheena Bora case was missing, the CBI has taken an abrupt U-turn to say that they have found the burnt remains of Sheena Bora's bones in its own 'maal khana' – the place where all the evidences/articles collected during the investigation are stored. However, CBI now says, in a further twist, that it is not presenting the bones as evidence in the case. CBI prosecutor CJ Nandode said that on April 25 they had sought time to trace the remains but could not find them. Accordingly, on May 7, the CBI submitted that the articles were not available. Nandonde told the court that as the agency looked for the bones they realised that the said bone fragments were not part of the chargesheet filed by the CBI; also, they had not been relied upon by However, CBI now says, in a further twist, that it is not presenting the bones as evidence in the case. the agency. Hence the evidence was never brought before the court and the prosecution continued examining Zeba Khan, professor of anatomy at JJ hospital, without producing the bones. 4Contd on | nation various projects, including the giant air-purifiers WAYU. The private firms were based in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Prabhadevi. The complaint was received from the Chief Vigilance Officer of CSIR against National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) scientists – former Director Rakesh Kumar, Chief Scientists Atya Kapley and Sanjeev Kumar Goyal, Principal Scientist Ritesh Vijay, and Sen- Cops say BMW killer changed look to avoid detection MEN CAN’T DUCK Right to religion does not entail right to convert MUMBAI The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to consider listing a plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction challenging Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Shiv Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after its split in June 2022. The speaker had also dismissed the disqualification petitions. E-paper SECULAR LAW | Muslim women subjected to triple talaq also entitled to upkeep under Sec 125 of CrPC; concurring but separate judgements Somendra Sharma UBT PLEA IN SC NOW KONKAN India beat Zimbabwe by 23 runs to take 2-1 lead in five-match T20I series MUMBAI An IAS officer who is on probation and posted in Pune -- Puja Khedkar – is on the media radar for having skipped six times a mandatory medical test to confirm that she is visually and mentally impaired, as per the affidavit submitted to the Union Public Service Commission. It is unclear how, or why, she was appointed if she, in fact, declined to appear for the examination. Unconfirmed reports say the first test had been scheduled at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences for April 2022. She skipped this claiming to have tested positive for COVID-19. Two appointments for the following month were also missed, as were those in July and August. And she only half-attended a sixth in September; she did not appear for a MRI test to assess vision loss. There are also questions over Khedkar claiming OBC, or Other Backward Classes, status. NASHIK GAMES NATION Ready to work with India to properly handle situation in border areas: Chinese FM fp EDITIONS: Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 ior Scientist Sunil Gulia, posted at Zonal Centre Delhi. Searches were conducted on Wednesday at 17 locations in Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar and Delhi, resulting in the recovery of incriminating documents, property-related documents and jewellery etc. “It has been alleged that the accused public servants entered criminal conspiracy with 4Contd on | nation Ankit Salvi MUMBAI The main accused in the BMW case, Mihir Shah, 24, who had fatally run over a woman and injured her husband at Worli on Sunday, had reportedly changed his appearance while on the run after the horrific accident. Further, the Worli police, who produced him before the metropolitan magistrate’s court in Sewri, have alleged that he is uncooperative. To aggravate matters, his mobile phone, the number plate of the car and his licence are yet to be seized. According to NDTV, shortly after he rammed his BMW into the couple’s scooter, killing Kaveri Nakhwa who was rid- Dheeraj Kumar Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, known for his  political acumen, has done  it again. He created a flutter in political and bureaucratic circles when he offered to touch the feet of a project engineer during a function in the state capital on Wednesday.  "Kahiye to hum aapka pair chhu lete hain (I will touch your feet if that is what you want),” he remarked, leaving the official dumbfounded.  Kalpesh Mhamunkar MUMBAI The Eknath Shinde- led government has announced a four per cent increase in the Dearness Allowance for state government employees. As per the Seventh Pay Commission, the rate of admissible inflation allowance on the basic pay has been increased from 46 to 50 percent. The arrears will be given from January 01, 2024, to June 30, 2024, and will come with the July salary. As per the order, government, semi-government and zila parishad employees will also get the benefit of the DA hike. The DA allowance was last increased on January 01, 2023 , to 42 percent. Thereafter, The CM  had  just finished instructing the official to ensure all work was completed by the end of the year. He also assured him  that the state government would provide all help to his construction company. Then, he sprang a surprise. The drama unfolded at a function organised to dedicate a stretch of “JP Ganga Path”, an expressway along river Ganga, to the public. A host of  top leaders were present at the event but that did not deter Nitish. N K Gupta THANE lost 3 million. We’d challenge Donald Trump to stand up to Putin, but he bent the knee to him. We’d challenge Donald Trump to follow the law, but he breaks it. We’d challenge Donald Trump to not destroy our country, but that’s all his Project 2025 aims to do.  "Joe Biden doesn’t have time for Donald Trump’s weird antics – he’s busy leading America and defending the free world. Donald Trump is a liar, a convict, and a fraud only out for himself – par for the course." A 45-year-old man died from injuries sustained after  slipping and falling into the platform gap  at  Thane railway station on Monday night, while trying to board the Amravati Express, according to the Government Railway Police (GRP).  Commuters alerted the GRP, who rushed him to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa, where he was declared dead during treatment, a GRP officer said. The deceased has been identified as Afzal Fakira Shaikh, 45, who worked as an interior designer in the city. He was a resident of Dudh Naka, Kalyan, where he lived with his wife, two daughters, and a son. His son is preparing for the staff selection exam conducted by the Central government, while daughter is studying Pharmacy.  Shaikh had gone to Vashi for some work. After his work was done, he boarded a local train from Vashi to Thane, from where he planned to leave for Nashik by the Amravati Express. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation Trump challenges crooked Biden to golf contest Agencies The 45th President of the United States Donald Trump held a massive rally on the 10th hole of his golf resort and threw two challenges at the 46th President Joe Biden. One, a “man-to-man”, “no holds barred” debate with no moderators, and the other a golf match at Dorsal. The stakes? Trump would donate $1 million to a charity of Biden's choice, if he loses. "I'm also officially challenging crooked Joe to an 18hole golf match right here on Doral's Blue Monster, considered one of the greatest tournament golf courses anywhere in the world," Trump said. "It will be among the most-watched sporting events in history,’’ he added. Blue Monster is one of the several golf courses Trump owns. "And I will even give Joe Biden 10 strokes a side. Ten strokes, that's a lot. That means 20 strokes, in case you don't play golf. And if he wins, I will give the charity of his choice, any charity of his choice, $1 million. And I'll bet you he doesn't take the offer." I'm also officially challenging crooked Joe to an 18-hole golf match right here on Doral's Blue Monster...And I will even give Joe Biden 10 strokes a side. ....And if he wins, I will give the charity of his choice, any charity of his choice, $1 million. And I'll bet you he doesn't take the offer. Biden's spokesperson, James Singer, declined the challenge, reports Fox News. He shot back saying, "Donald Trump hasn’t been seen in public for 12 days, now he’s inviting fictional serial killers to dinner and challenging the President of the United States to golf." "We’d challenge Donald Trump to create jobs, but he DA was due for increase in July 2023 but was not enhanced. Later, in November 2023, the Shinde government declared a four percent hike and the the DA allowance had touched 46 percent. Arrears of July, August, September and October 2023 were also given. The latest move comes where there is a funds crunch. On Tuesday, the State government presented supplementary demands worth Rs 95 thousand crores. Opposition party targeted the government saying the Shinde government is celebrating Diwali by borrowing money from banks. The state budget, which was presented by Ajit Pawar, had projected revenue deficit of Rs 20,051 crore and fiscal deficit of Rs 1.10 lakh crore. Fatal fall for designer in platform gap off-grid MIAMI, FLORIDA 4Contd on | nation 4 pc DA hike comes in July with 6-mnth dues No one bends it like Nitish PATNA ing pillion, Mihir reportedly spoke to his girlfriend 40 times before abandoning the car, hiring an autorickshaw and heading to her house. Police said his girlfriend may now be detained for questioning.  Mihir was arrested by police on Tuesday from Virar Naka, and his friend Avdeep, who was with him at that time, was also immediately detained.   Also detained were Mihir’s mother Meena, 50, and his two sisters, Pooja, 30, and Kinjal, 26, from Shahpur. Pooja had apparently dropped Mihir at Shahpur. She runs a fashion design firm and has a clothing brand for celebrities.