HYDERABAD  SATURDAY  OCTOBER 19, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION HAMAS CONFIRMS SINWAR’S DEATH, SAYS HOSTAGES WON’T BE RELEASED NO 2 KHALIL AL-HAYYA IN LINE TO TAKE REINS “Those prisoners will not return before the end of the aggression on Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza,” said Khalil al-Hayya, who was Sinwar’s Qatarbased deputy. With Sinwar’s death, Al-Hayya is the seniormost Hamas leader and is among the probables who could head the outfit. In a video message broadcast by Al Jazeera, Al-Hayya said Hamas would continue its activities Hamas on Friday confirmed that Israeli forces killed its leader Yahya Sinwar. It added the Israeli hostages won’t be freed until there is a ceasefire ISRAEL TO CONTINUE GAZA OFFENSIVE ■ ■ Sinwar, the mastermind of the brutal October 7 attack that claimed over 1,200 lives, was killed in a targeted ground operation by Israeli forces in Rafah in southern Gaza. His identity was confirmed through a DNA test Announcing the Hamas leader’s killing on Thursday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s war is not over yet | P9 101 NUMBER OF HOSTAGES STILL HELD BY HAMAS, OF WHOM 30 ARE FEARED DEAD CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Personal laws can’t stunt child marriage Act: SC HC junks plea against S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday held that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) cannot be stunted by personal laws and marriages involving children violate the free will to have a partner of choice. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued a slew of directions to strengthen the legal framework to eradicate child marriages in the country These include set. ting up special courts to hear PLAIN SPEAK Purported sack-CM call by 19 Manipur BJP MLAs P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati NINETEEN BJP MLAs of Manipur have reportedly written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the removal of Chief Minister N Biren Singh. Two leaked pages of their purported six-page letter are circulating on social media. However, it was not clear if the letter was at all submitted to the PM. One of the pages bears the purported signatures of Assembly Speaker Th Satyabrata Singh and senior ministers Th Biswajit Singh and Y Khemchand Singh. Neither they nor the CM has commented on this so far. The BJP has 37 MLAs in the sensitive state. Interestingly, the CM had around 5 pm on Friday uploaded a clip of a local news channel on his WhatsApp status, which reported the demand of the 19 MLAs urging the PM to sack Biren. He deleted it about half an hour later. The MLAs exp re s s e d d e e p concerns over the situation in Manipur. They said the state’s revenue and tax collection has been greatly hampered, thus badly affecting the economy . “We, as fervent supporters of the BJP and having won the mandate of the people, feel that we have the responsibility of saving Manipur along with saving BJP from downfall in Manipur. At the present juncture, taking a cue from the trend and dynamics of the conflict and strife between the two communities, we strongly feel that removal of the present incumbent Chief Minister is the only solution,” the letter read. It cautioned that the longer the conflict continued, the more irreparable the damages would be. Reconciliation and peace could be ensured only through dialogue and meaningful, multi-pronged engagement. child marriage cases, empowering magistrates to pass injunction orders against reported violations, and formation of dedicated police units to prevent such crimes. Writing the judgement for the bench, CJI Chandrachud said child marriage violates the right to life and liberty ensured under Article 21 of the Constitution. “All children married as minors are denied their right to choice and autonomy right to educa, tion, right to sexuality and the right to development of the child. States, Union Territories to appoint Child Marriage Prohibition Officers at district level; quarterly reports should be released Magistrates to focus on ‘auspicious days’ known for mass weddings, to take proactive measures to prevent child marriages Create a designated portal for online reporting of child marriages Girls who are married as children are denied their right to health,” it said, adding that the children who are thrown into forced marriages are deprived of their right to development. While noting that the issue of whether the PCMA would prevail over personal laws was pending with Parliament for consideration, the bench suggested that the House may also consider outlawing child betrothals, which rob children of their free will to choose a partner. Keeping in mind the delicate socio-economic interplay in the matter, the bench emphasized on a community-driven approach for the success of the efforts to eradicate child marriages in the country “The law . will only succeed when there is a multi-sectoral coordination. Training and capacity building of the law enforcement officers needs to be there,” Chandrachud said. The order came in a public interest litigation filed by the NGO, Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action (SEVA), and activist Nirmal Gorana, saying PCMA was not being implemented in letter and spirit. Warrant against ex-RAW agent US court issues arrest warrant; second unsealed indictment identifies him as Vikash Yadav YESHI SELI AND HARPREET B A J W A @ New Delhi/Chandigarh A day after the US said India had ‘removed’ a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) agent for the alleged murder-for-hire plot to eliminate Khalistani radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, the Department of Justice has identified him as Vikash Yadav. On October 10, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Yadav by a New York court. The second indictment unsealed on Friday revealed the murder-for-hire and money laundering charges against Vikash Yadav, 39, also known as Vikas and Amanat. Yadav described himself as a field officer previously serving with CRPF and directed the plot from India. The indictment claims Yadav was the co-conspirator of Nikhil Gupta, 53, who was earlier charged and extradited to the US. “ alleged last year (first inAs dictment) we foiled an attempt PROVIDED KEY INFO Vikash Yadav allegedly provided information, such as the victim’s residential addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying information, to Nikhil Gupta for furtherance of the plot to murder Pannun, says FBI VIKASH YADAV faces charges of murderfor-hire; plot to commit murder THE CASH COMPONENT Yadav and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15K in New York as advance fee for the murder to the undercover agent, which is how they got into trouble US Govt has reassured its commitment to constitutional duty to protect the life, liberty and freedom of expression of the US Citizen at home and abroad — Gurpatwant Singh Pannun by Vikas Yadav, an Indian government employee and his coconspirator Nikhil Gupta to assassinate an American citizen on US soil. Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every US citizen is entitled,’’ Attorney General BIG MOVE VEDANTA TO INVEST `1 LAKH CR IN ODISHA H E M A N T K U M A R R O U T @ Bhubaneswar METAL and mining major Vedanta Limited on Friday announced a fresh investment of `1 lakh crore in Odisha to set up a 6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery and a 3 mtpa ‘green’ aluminium plant, which will be powered by renewable energy . The announcement was made by Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal during his one-to-one interaction with Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at the G2B meet organised by the state government in Mumbai on Friday for inviting industry leaders to the Make-in-Odisha Conclave in January next year. The fresh investment is in addition to Vedanta’s earlier investment of `1 lakh crore in the state, which has already created over one lakh jobs over the past two decades, the company said. It will also mark the largest investment ever made by the conglomerate anywhere in the world, generating two lakh jobs along with opportunities for hundreds of MSMEs in the state. “The refinery and plant will create a massive industrial complex for the downstream industries as demand for aluminium is likely to double by 2030,” the company said. Merrick B Garland said. For its part, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a wanted poster of Vikash Yadav and added him to their most-wanted list. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) alleged that Yadav was the mastermind of the plot. “We charge that Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government—here on the US soil,’’ it said. The indictment claims that on June 19, 2023, a day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta had told an undercover DEA agent — who he thought was the assassin-on-hire — that Nijjar was also their target and that they had many such hit jobs in the pipeline. Gupta added that there was no further need to wait to bump off Pannun. The charges, if proved, can carry a penalty of 10 years in prison for conspiracy and 20 years for money laundering. In July 2020, Pannun was designated a terrorist by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. He is the founder of a US-based separatist group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which was declared a banned organisation five years ago under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Group-I test, says can’t risk future of thousands T G N A I D U @ Hyderabad THE Telangana High Court on Friday cleared the way for the TGPSC to conduct the Group-I Main Examination as scheduled from October 21 to October 27, 2024 by rejecting two writ appeals seeking to overturn an order by a single judge. The single judge had refused to cancel the Group-I preliminary examination. Taking up the writ appeals, a bench of Justices Abhinandan Kumar Shavili and Laxmi ASPIRANTS Narayana Alishetty made it clear that the fuKNOCK ON ture of over 32,000 candidates could not be SC DOOR jeopardised for the sake of six petitioners. The bench observed that more than 90% of the candidates had already downloaded their hall Group-I tickets, and postponing the examination at aspirants on this late stage would cause unnecessary disFriday knocked ruption. The bench also noted that two of the the doors of petitioners had already qualified for the main Supreme Court examination. opposing the The bench recounted the earlier cancellareservation tions of the Group-I preliminary examination pattern due to issues such as a question paper leak and prescribed in lack of biometric verification and concluded GO29. The that further delays would cause irreparable apex court is harm to unemployed youth waiting to take the likely to take test. up the hearing Justice Pulla Karthik, the single judge, had on Monday. rightly dismissed earlier petitions to cancel The petitioners the exam, the bench stated. urged the The high court bench criticised the petitionSupreme Court ers for challenging the notification for the exto postpone amination only after the results of the prelimithe Group-I nary exam were declared. The judges asserted mains that participants in the selection process could examination not challenge it after being unsuccessful. till the GO 29 is Addressing the petitioners’ concerns about scrapped. six wrong questions in the exam, the bench made it clear that such issues were within the purview of the Expert Committee, which had already reviewed and released the final key The court ruled that . it would not delve into the details of the examination questions. Justice Shavili underscored that the examination schedule, published in February 2024, had already set out the timeline for both preliminary and main exams. The postponement of the main exam, set to begin in just two days, was deemed out of the question. The bench also rejected the petitioners’ claim that the TGPSC had improperly accepted applications after the official deadline, acknowledging that the extension was due to a technical glitch. The writ appeals were filed by Satta Shekhar and others, and Damodar Reddy and others. Adani donates `100 cr to Skill Varsity Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani hands over a cheque worth `100 crore as donation to the Young India Skill University, to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad THE Adani Foundation has donated `100 crore to the Young India Skill University. Chairman of Adani Group Gautam Adani met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy here on Friday and handed over a cheque for `100 crore. Later, the Telangana CMO tweeted on X: “A delegation from Adani Foundation, led by Chairperson of Adani Group, Mr @gautam_adani, met with Hon’ble Chief Minister @ revanth_anumula garu to hand over a donation cheque of Rs 100 crore towards the establishment of Young India Skills University Mr Adani also promised . continued support for the initiatives of Telangana state government for skills development, and empowerment of youth. @ AdaniFoundation #YoungIndiaSkillsUniversity (sic)”. The chief minister laid the foundation stone for the Skill University at Meerkhanpet in Kandukur mandal of Rangareddy district on August 1. The university has already started accepting admissions for six courses this year. The university was established to provide employment skills to the youths in as many as 20 courses, the stated intention being to train one lakh unemployed youths every year. The government ap- pointed Anand Mahindra as chairman of Skill University Board of Governors. A ro u n d 1 4 0 c o m p a n i e s evinced keen interest in partnering with the University . SBI, NAC, Dr Reddy’s, TVAGA and Adani and others have already agreed to be partners and CII has also come forward. This year, the university would start certificate courses in ecommerce, logistics and retail sectors. EXPRESS READ Bishnoi issues fresh threat to Salman Khan Mumbai: Days after the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique, the Mumbai traffic police received a threat message demanding `5 crore from Bollywood actor Salman Khan. The sender, allegedly connected to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, warned that Khan’s life would be in jeopardy if the money was not paid, officials said on Friday | P8 Sacrilege case: No stay on trial against Dera chief New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for trial of the 2015 sacrilege cases involving Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan vacated the earlier stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief | P7 BJP huffs & puffs as membership drive deadline nears SPOTTED WILD CAT?  A video clip claiming that I R E D DY S R I N I VAS R E D DY a leopard was spotted on Friday evening near the Miyapur Metro station went viral @ Hyderabad  The video clip soon found its way to TV channels, and some viewers claimed to have spotted the big cat  Forest and police teams were sent to rescue the wild cat. However, there was no confirmation of the genuineness of the video SLEW OF STEPS TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGES Screen grab of the viral video THE BJP is facing a major challenge in reaching its membership target set by the national leadership for Telangana. As of Friday the state unit managed , to enrol only 17 lakh new members, against the target of 50 lakh set by the high command. With just six days remaining for wrapping up the membership drive, a sense of urgency prevailed in the state unit of the party According to sources, the . state leadership has now focused on enrolling at least a “respectable” number of members. As per the party guidelines, sitting and former MPs, MLAs, MLCs, office-bearers as well as contested candidates should have enrolled at least 1,000 members each on their referral code. This was conveyed quite clearly to the leaders who were told to focus on their Lok Sabha, Assembly and Council constituencies to enrol a significant number of members. However, the leaders have not reached anywhere near the number. Some MPs, MLAs, and officebearers have allegedly outsourced the membership drive to contracted agencies using personal referral codes, despite the party leadership explicitly warning them against such practices as it would lead to ar- tificial memberships. Even after the series of instructions by the party leadership, the leaders have not changed and are allegedly enrolling members using the same practices. Allegations have also been made that some leaders are offering monetary incentives to lower-level cadres to boost memberships under their referral codes. Buoyed by its strong showing in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has pinned hopes on the membership drive in the CONTINUED ON P4 state.