WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 14 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR INDIA-UAE BOND TO DEFINE RELATIONSHIP OF DECADE SC STAYS DEFAMATION PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SHASHI THAROOR P4 SENSEX 81,921.29p361.75 NIFTY BACKLASH IN FRANCE P8 25,041.10p104.70 ` vs $ 83.97 RINKU CALLED UP FOR DULEEP TROPHY P6 GOLD 73,815.00 P14 SILVER 91,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 70.93q−0.43 CM Mamata reaches out to agitating doctors Protesting doctors were invited to state secretariat for discussions to resolve the impasse, but they did not turn up; continue pressing for demands STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 10 SEPTEMBER C hief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday reached out to agitating junior doctors, inviting them to the state secretariat at Nabanna for a meeting to resolve the impasse amid their ongoing protest over the R G Kar issue, but they did not turn up, Chandrima Bhattacharya, minister of state for health, said. “The state government supports the reasons behind the agitation of the junior doctors and that's why the chief minister was waiting for their representatives at Nabanna till 7.30 pm to discuss their demands but they didn't come. The chief minister left for the day. The principal secretary of the health department sent them an email around 6.10 asking them to send a 10-member delegation to Nabanna for FIR against IAF Wing Commander after complaint of sexual assault STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE JAMMU, 10 SEPTEMBER Police have registered an FIR against a Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force in Kashmir on the allegations of rape against him by a woman flying officer. Both IAF officers are presently stationed in Srinagar. After the complaint, an FIR under “relevant sections of the law” was filed at Budgam police station in central Kashmir on Saturday, a senior police officer said. The woman officer has accused senior IAF officers of not taking her complaint seriously. She has also alleged “continuous harassment, sexual assault, and mental torture” that she has been subjected to over the last two years, primarily by authorities at the Air Force Station, Srinagar. In her complaint, the woman officer has alleged that she was forced to perform a sexual act on the Wing Commander after the New Year’s Party held at the Air Force Station, Srinagar, on 31 December 2023. An IAF officer, meanwhile, said that the force is cooperating with the local police in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam in probing the complaint of alleged sexual assault. “We are aware of the case. The Air Force Station in Srinagar was approached by the local Budgam police station on the subject. We are fully cooperating towards this case,” a senior IAF official said. LoP Rahul Gandhi stokes controversy with Sikh remarks, BJP calls it absurd STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 SEPTEMBER Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has stoked a controversy after he said the fight in India is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban or go to a Gurdwara, in a veiled attack on the ruling BJP, which he has been accusing of doing “divisive” politics. The BJP slammed Mr Gandhi for his remarks and accused him of setting a “dangerous narrative”. Addressing the Indian diaspora in Washington DC in the USA, Mr Gandhi said: “We have to understand what the fight is about. The fight is not about politics. It is superficial.” Asking a person wearing a turban who was present in the hall what his name is, he said: “The fight is about whether he as a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or he as a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a kada in India. Or he as a Sikh is going to be able to go to Gurudwara. That’s what the fight is about. And not just for him, for all religions.” Attacking the RSS, Mr Gandhi said: “When I say Kerala or Punjab…. These are not simple words, these are your history, your language, your tradition, your entire imagination is in these words. What the RSS is basically saying, is that certain states are inferior to other states, certain languages are inferior to other languages, certain religions are inferior to other religions, certain communities are inferior to other communities.” Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, while accusing Mr Gandhi of setting a dangerous narrative, said: “One needs to figure out why the Leader of Opposition Mr Rahul Gandhi makes outlandish and defamatory statements about India on foreign soil. But what he has now said about Sikhs not being able to wear Kada and turban borders on being purely delusional and absurd.” “The truth is that Sikhs have never been safer anywhere in the world than they are in India today. If there ever was any fear or anxiety in their minds about being identified as Sikhs... it was only during the mindless one-sided violence and pogrom against members of the Sikh Sangat in 1984,” he told the media in New Delhi. talks but they didn't respond,” Mrs Bhattacharya told reporters at the state secretariat this evening. The striking junior doctors on Tuesday continued their stir, declining to comply with an order of the Supreme Court asking them to resume duties by 5 p.m today. The junior doctors are staging a dharna outside the Swasthya Bhavan in Salt Lake demanding the removal of the state health secretary Mr The state Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by CM Mamata Banerjee, decided to set up five more POCSO courts in the state, adding to the 62 POCSO courts already working in the state. NS Nigam and the Director of Medical Education and other senior officials of the state health department. They said they received an email from the health secretary, but it was not positive in terms of their charter of demands. Mrs Bhattacharya also said only Miss Banerjee will speak to the media on the current events that are taking place following the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9 August. Mrs Bhattacharya also informed the media that the state Cabinet, at a meeting today chaired by Miss Banerjee, decided to set up five more POCSO courts in Bengal. Mrs Bhattacharya said the decision was taken as the state government is determined to ensure speedy trial and conviction of the culprits involved in abuse and molestation of girls. Already, there are 62 POCSO courts in the state. The work to set up the additional POSCO courts will start immediately. There are 6 e-POSCO courts in the state.