SATURDAY DELHI HC CLIPS WFI, DISSOLUTION OF AD-HOC PANEL ‘UNWARRANTED’ 17 AUGUST, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in WFI THE WRESTLING BODY WILL CHALLENGE THE HIGH COURT ORDER facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard PREZ RACE ‘HARRIS TO WIN IF POLLS HELD TODAY’ Democrat candidate Kamala Harris would be the favourite to win if polls were held today, The Washington Post said, based on the results of its survey PAGE 9 The court has asked WFI to abstain from administering and managing the day-today activities with immediate effect AD-HOC PANEL BACK IN PLAY FOR WRESTLING A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS NEW DELHI J8.00 PAGES 12 Yunus to PM: Reports on minorities ‘exaggerated’ Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi He (Yunus) assured protection, safety and security of Hindus and all minorities in Bangladesh Prime Minister Narendra Modi PUNE BANGLADESH Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus on Friday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the first direct communication between the two after the Nobel Laureate assumed charge on August 8. Modi congratulated Yunus on his new role and asked him to ensure the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh. “Received a telephone call from Professor Muhammad Yunus. Exchanged views on the prevailing NEW DELHI situation. Reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh,” said PM Modi. Yunus said his interim government is committed to safeguarding every citizen of the country, including the minorities. “Situation in Bangladesh has been brought under control and is becoming normal,” he said. During his talk with Modi, Yunus termed the reports of attacks on the minorities ‘exaggerated’, said a statement from Dhaka. He PATNA HC whiplash at Bengal govt failure to deal with mob fury S U L A G N A S E N G U P TA @ Kolkata THE Calcutta High Court on Friday came down like a ton of bricks on the West Bengal administration for its abject failure in handling a midnight mob that ransacked the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and terrorised its staff. The mob attack happened at a time when a massive midnight protest was on elsewhere in the city over the horrific the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the hospital on August 9. The court directed the police and the hospital authority to file affidavits on the incident. A division bench presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam said it was hard to believe that the police intelligence did not have information about the gathering of 7,000 people at the health facility, when the state’s lawyer told the court the administration did not expect such a massive mob in the wee hours of Thursday . The bench said that the police should place on record the entire sequence of events that led to the vandalism in the hospital. “You pass Section 144 of the CrPC orders for any reason. When so much commotion is going on, you should have cordoned the area. 7,000 people can’t come walking,” the bench said. It also directed the CBI to file an interim report on the progress of investigation into the rape and murder of the woman doctor. Meanwhile, the CBI questioned Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. He was picked up around 8.30 am and taken to the CGO complex in Salt Lake for interrogation. The CBI had summoned Ghosh several times for questioning, but he had been evading them. Seen as close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Ghosh is facing several charges. Mamata, who led a TMC protest march in Kolkata demanding justice for the doctor, accused the CPM and the BJP of orchestrating vandalism at the hospital. The BJP too, staged rallies across , the state, demanding Mamata’s P3, 8 resignation. GLOBAL SOUTH MEET Muhammad Yunus accepted PM Modi’s invitation to join the virtual Third Voice of Global South Summit, being hosted by New Delhi on Saturday. The previous editions of the Summit saw the robust participation of over 100 countries from the Global South DOCTORS displaying solidarity with their Kolkata counterparts against the grisly rape-murder of a medico are unstoppable. Friday saw the swelling of their numbers at Nirman Bhavan (Health Ministry’s headquarters) where they converged to protest despite police barricades. On Saturday the medi, cos plan bigger: two premier medical institutions, AIIMS-Delhi and PGI-Chandigarh, have announced that all elective services will remain suspended. Indications are that their nationwide strike is for implementing a Central Protection Act to en- MORE INFECTIOUS MPOX STRAIN IN PAKISTAN Days after the World Health Organisation declared monkey pox a global health emergency, Pakistan’s health ministry said it has identified a new variant that can transmit more easily | P9 sure the safety of healthcare workers is gaining ground. Things were visible on Friday evening. The police stopped the medicos’ march to India Gate from Safdarjung. “Don’t we have the right to express our anger,” asked Dr Survrankar Dutta, general secretary, AIIMS-Delhi RDA. Their Saturday agitation will af fect OPD, planned surgeries, and patient investigations. The emergency services, however, will continue. Faculty members have informed the patients about rescheduled appointments. “The residents of our institute are on strike. An urgent General Body Meeting was held on Friday with the faculties, and it was unanimously decided that apart from emergency medical services including casualty, emergency OT, ICU and wards, no routine hospital services (OPD/OT/ Laboratory) will function on Saturday,” the letter to the AIIMS director by the faculty association read. The PGI-Chandigarh has issued a notice announcing the suspension of all OPDs, routine surgeries, and procedures. Safdarjung Hospital is yet to make a final decision on participating in the strike. CHENNAI Resident doctors staging protests seeking justice for the PG student who was raped and murdered at a Kolkata hospital | PTI HC JUDGE: LAW & ORDER SITUATION FAILED “If police are injured, they are unable to control the mob, then the law and order situation has failed,” the Calcutta HC said, adding it was a “sorry state of affairs” if the police could not protect their own MAMATA: BID TO HIDE THE TRUTH VIA FAKE NEWS “We want the truth to come out. Attempts are being made to hide the truth by circulating fake news. We condemn it. We want the culprits to be punished,” Mamata said IMA: WANT CENTRAL LAW TO PROTECT DOCTORS The IMA made 5 demands, including a overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors and a central law to check violence against healthcare professionals FIR IN 6 HRS FOR ATTACKS ON DOCS, HEALTH STAFF The health ministry on Friday directed all hospitals to file an FIR within six hours if any healthcare workers reports violence. The decision came amid nationwide strike by resident doctors. P8 ‘NOT SHIELDING ANYONE, PROBE TRANSPARENT’ Faced with widespread criticism for not doing enough to stop the vandals from raiding RG Kar hospital on Wednesday night, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal asserted that the force was not trying to shield anyone. P8 NATIONAL FILM AWARDS South Indian films retain hot streak E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai THE 70th National Film Awards announced on Friday reflected the continuing hot streak of South Indian cinema since last year. Malayalam film Aattam won the Best Feature Film award, Rishab Shetty bagged the Best Actor award for Kantara while Nithya Menen (Thiruchitrambalam) shared the Best Actress award with Manasi Parekh (The Kutch Express). Ponniyin Selvan I won several key awards, including Best Music Direction-Background Score (AR Rahman), Best Sound Design (Anand Krishnamoorthy), and Best Cinematography (Ravi Varman). This is AR Rahman’s seventh National Award, the most for any music director in India. In the crew awards section, Jani and Sathish Krishnan won the Best Choreography Award for their work in Thiruchitrambalam (Megam Karukatha). Films like KGF Chapter 2, Brahmastra Part I, and Fouja also won awards in key categories. Apart from the Best Film award, Aattam won the Best Editing award (Mahesh Bhuvanend) and Best Screenplay J&K to get govt after 10 yrs, poll dates out Schedule for Haryana also announced; BJP faces resurgent opposition in first major election after the Lok Sabha polls F AYA Z W A N I & H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Srinagar/Chandigarh also offered to invite Indian journalists to visit Bangladesh and report from the ground about the actual situation there. Protest at Nirman Bhavan, AIIMS & PGI docs join stir A S H I S H S R I VA STAVA @ New Delhi The Delhi High Court restored the IOA’s ad-hoc committee’s mandate for Wrestling Federation of India on an earlier plea by wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Satyawart Kadian. A multi-member panel is to be formed by the Indian Olympic Association to ensure day-to-day running of the sport in the country | P11 award (Anand Ekarshi). The latter was shared with the Hindi film Gulmohar. Responding to the win, Aattam director Anand Ekarshi said, “It feels surreal to even think that our film has won among 300 submissions... To win three awards at the national level is quite overwhelming.” On the other hand, Anand Krishnamoorthy who won , the Best Sound Design Award for Ponniyin Selvan I revealed that he was not aware of the winners list being announced on Friday . CONTINUED ON P5 SETTING the stage for the first test after the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission on Friday announced the Assembly election schedule for Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana. Elections in J&K will be held in three phases, starting September 18, while Haryana polls will be held on October 1. Results of both elections will be out on October 4. Of the 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir, 24 seats will go to the polls in the first phase on September 18, 26 seats in the second phase on September 25, and 40 in the third and final phase on October 1. All 90 seats in Haryana will go to polls on October 1. The announcement comes months after the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s decision to scrap J&K’s special status and directed that Assembly elections be held by September 30. This would be the first polls in the J&K Union territory after abrogation of Article 370. The polls would end the six-year Central rule in J&K. Almost all political parties welcomed the EC’s announcement. Assembly polls in J&K were last held in November 2014 when the PDP and the BJP formed a coalition government led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. His death in 2016 led to Mehbooba Mufti becoming the CM. The BJP pulled out of the government in June 2018 and the state was put under governor’s rule. The assembly was dissolved in 2018. In Haryana, the BJP is hopeful of forming government for the ELECTION SCHEDULE J&K 3 phases September 18 September 25 October 1 Haryana Single phase October 1 Result October 4 third consecutive time but it needs to counter a resurgent Congress, which is looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor and farmers agitation. Apart from the BJP and the Congress, the Jannayak Janta Party , the Indian National Lok Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party are also set to field their candidates, making it a multi-cornered contest in Haryana. Early this year, the BJP had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as CM to counter anti-incumbency. Saini will be the BJP’s CM face for the assembly polls. Both elections are crucial for the BJP, which is looking to improve its image after its less than expected performance in the Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party is looking to retain power in Haryana and put up a strong show in Jammu and Kashmir, where its strongholds have been traditionally confined P7 to the Jammu division. Now, people will come out in large numbers to participate in the elections National Conference president Farooq Abdullah Maha polls later The EC said Maharashtra Assembly polls will be announced later, citing the need for additional security forces in Jammu and Kashmir elections Over 2-century-old shop makes a sweet comeback in capital ‘Missing’ B’luru techie found near Noida mall PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi A missing case involving a 32-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru took a dramatic turn on Friday with the techie revealing that he did not go missing, but left home 10 days ago over differences with his wife. Vipin Gupta was traced near a mall in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and was brought to the city in the morning. Gupta went “missing” on August 6 and his wife filed a complaint at Kodigehalli police station on August 8. DCP (Northeast) Sajeeth VJ told this newspaper that Gupta was traced to Noida based on CCTV footage from various places and technical clues. He was found near a mall, and had changed his appearance by getting his head tonsured. From Bengaluru, Gupta travelled to Tirupati, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow and other places before arriving in Noida, Sajeeth said. Another police officer said Gupta and his wife had a strained relationship. Because of this, Gupta left home without informing his wife. He had done this in the past too, and was found in Goa, he added. IF you are in Chandni Chowk, you may head to Ghantewala—the iconic centuries-old sweetshop. It is back after about nine years. The outlet was once famous for Sohan Halwa, Karachi Halwa, Dalmoth and Pista Lauj. Keenly awaiting the aroma that wafts through the street, its patrons noticed something gastronomically auspicious on Friday . The newly designed outlet at the same location will also offer Chhola-Bhatura and Delhi’s popular ‘Chaat’. As always the brand will continue to use desi ghee (clarified butter) for all preparations. “We are now introducing glutenfree delicacies such as ragi (finger millet) laddu, jowar (sorghum) laddu and sweetmeats made from dry fruits anjeer (fig) and dates (khajoor), which contain less sugar,” said Sushant Jain, the seventh generation descendant of Lala Sukh Ram, who established the original Ghantewala in 1790 in Shahjahanabad, popularly known as ‘Purani Dilli’. Ghantewala went out of operation in 2015 after it became difficult to run the workshop in the area due to stringent licensing norms. Jain said he had planned to restart the operation long ago. However, given the Covid pandemic, he confined the business online. Established during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, the shop was more of an emotion for people of yesteryear. Among many of its renowned patrons were Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Mohammad Rafi and several others. E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru EXPRESS READ DU releases ‘round one’ Punya Salila Srivastava of UG admissions list named new health secy Around 97,387 students—52,838 girls and 44,549 boys—were offered undergraduate programmes and college combinations in the first allocation list released by Delhi University on Friday. The highest allocations have been made for BCom (Hons). Classes for the first year UG students will start from August 29. P4 In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Centre on Friday appointed Punya Salila Srivastava, currently special secretary in the PMO, as the new health secretary. Similarly, Rajesh Kumar Singh, the secretary for Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, was named the new defence secretary.
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