DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 24 PAGES `6.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 FORMER DELHI DY CM OUT IN BOTH CBI, ED CASES Govt turns down top court call for SC/ST creamy layer exclusion No provision in Constitution, says Cabinet, hours after BJP MPs meet PM DIVYA A & LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, AUGUST 9 DAYS AFTER the Supreme Court called for exclusion of the creamy layer from the ambit of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe reservation, the Union Cabinet Friday turned it down, saying “there is no provision for a creamy layer in SC/ST reservation” in “the Constitution given by B R Ambedkar”. Earlier in the day, BJP’s SC, ST MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya BUSINESS AS USUAL Sabha met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said they had been assured that no step would be taken on the top court’s observations calling for exclusion of the creamy layer. On August 1, a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the SupremeCourt,inalandmark61 majority verdict, ruled that Scheduled Castes do not constitute a socially homogeneous classandcanbesub-classifiedby States for the purpose of providing reservation to the less CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE BY UNNY BANGLADESH SAYS RESTORING ORDER TOP PRIORITY PAGE 19 INDIA FORMS PANEL TO KEEP CHANNELS OPEN WITH DHAKA PAGE 18 ‘Prolonged incarceration... shouldn’t be punishment without trial’ Why Bench said trial delay, bail right must be read into PMLA Sec 45 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G APURVA VISHWANATH THESUPREMECourtgrantedbail Friday to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in theCBIandEDcasesagainsthim for his alleged role in the Delhi excise policy matter, saying “there is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future”. Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February26,2023, andby the ED 12 days later. The bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan directed that Sisodia be released on a bond of Rs 10 lakh and two sureties of the like amount. “In the present case, in the ED matter as well as the CBI matter, 493 witnesses have been named. The case involves thousands of pages of documents and over a lakh pages of digitised documents. It is thus clear that there is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future,” it said. “In our view, keeping the appellant behind the bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of trial would deprive his fundamental right to liberty under UNDERLINING THAT delay in trialandalongperiodof pre-trial incarceration is a ground to bypassthestringentbailconditions in money laundering cases, the Supreme Court Friday granted bailtoformerDelhiDeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia. “Incaseof delaycoupledwith incarceration for a long period anddepending on the nature of the allegations, the right tobailwillhave ● to be read into Section 45 of PMLA,” the Court said in a 38page order. Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2005 prescribes a rather high bar for granting bail. The negative language in the provision itself showsthatbailisnottherulebut the exception under PMLA and both trial and constitutional courts are required to apply a ‘triple test’ to grant bail. These three conditions are: (i) that there are “reasonable grounds for believing that (the accused) is not guilty of such offence”; (ii) that “he is not likely NEW DELHI, AUGUST 9 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Time has come to give people of J&K elected govt: CEC in Jammu ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, AUGUST 9 THE TIME has come for the peopleof JammuandKashmirtoget an elected government through assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in Jammu on Friday. “The time has come to take forward the dreams of democracy you people have seen and shown us by turning up in large numbers and standing in long queuesatpollingstationsduring the recent Lok Sabha elections, CEC Rajiv Kumar with EC team at Dal Lake, Friday. PTI and to give you an elected government through (assembly) elections,” he said. The CEC, who was accompa- nied by election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, did not share a timeline within which the electoral process will be completed. “The state level review has been completed and the Amarnath yatra is also going to conclude on August 19,” he said, adding that “on our return to Delhi, we will have an assessment of the security situation and the availability of forces before announcing the election schedule”. Replying to a question about CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 STAYS MUMBAI PVT COLLEGE BAN ON HIJAB, CAP, BADGE Shouldn’t a girl decide what she wears: SC on college hijab ban ANANTHAKRISHNAN G & OMKAR GOKHALE NEWDELHI,MUMBAI,AUGUST9 IN STRONG observations that included questions like “should it notbelefttoagirltodecidewhat she wants to wear” and how can itbe“empoweringwomenbyenforcing” a dress code, the Supreme Court Friday stayed a Mumbai private college’s ban on the wearing of hijab, cap or badgesbystudentsonitscampus. Saying it’s “unfortunate that you come up with these kinds of instructionsaftersomanyyears” and “suddenly you realise that there is religion in this country”, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar said: “Issue notice returnable in the week commencing November 18. In the meanwhile, we partly stayclause2of theimpugnedcircular to the extent that it directs thatnohijab,caporbadgewillbe worn. We hope and trust this interim order is not misused by anybody. Respondents (college) can move court if it is misused.” Three students of the N G Acharya and D K Marathe College in Chembur, Mumbai, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, AUGUST 9 AAP leader Manish Sisodia outside Tihar jail after the Supreme Court granted him bail on Friday. Abhinav Saha Out of jail, first words: Court used Constitution power to slap dictators NIRBHAY THAKUR & MALLICA JOSHI NEW DELHI, AUGUST 9 SHORTLY AFTER walking out of Tihar jail at 6.45 pm on Friday, Delhi’sformerdeputychief minister greeted the crowd of Aam Aadmi Party supporters: “Aap sabko azaad Manish Sisodia ka namaskar.” With rain pelting down, Sisodia stood atop his vehicle’s sunroof and said, “Dilli ke schoolon ka ek-ek bacha dil se mere saath tha. Main unke baare main17mahinesesochtarahatha (each and every child in Delhi schoolswaswithme.Iwasthinking about them for the last 17 months).” Before his arrest, Sisodiaheldthecrucialportfolios of educationandfinance,among several others. Thanking the Supreme Court, he said, “The court used the power of the Constitution and slapped the dictators…I CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a delegation of BJP SC/ST MPs in New Delhi on Friday. PTI SCbailtoSisodia:Nopossibility oftrialconcludinginnearfuture CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Orphaned at 11, bronze in Olympics at 21: ‘My parents never saw me become a wrestler’ MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, AUGUST 9 AMAN SEHRAWAT was just another wrestler when he crouched to grab Toi Darian Cruz’s right leg. By the time he got a tight grip, twisted it mercilessly and slammed the Puerto Rican on the mat, Sehrawat was an Olympic medallist. Continuing the tradition of an Olympic medal in wrestling, the 21-year-old clinched a bronze to take India’s tally at the Paris Olympics to six. This was also a wrestling medal in the fifth straight Olympics for India, a run that began with Sushil Kumar in 2008. He might have stepped on the mat on Friday evening but Sehrawat’s actual Aman Sehrawat after his win over Toi Darian Cruz. PTI bout took place the night before — with himself. Before it ended with a sense of relief and happiness, Friday morningforthewrestlingfraternitybeganwithafeelingof residual dread. Sehrawat returned to the Athletes Village Thursday night nearly a kilo-and-a-half CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2016 VADODARA FARMHOUSE RAID Prosecution fails to prove case, 129 booked under Prohibition Act acquitted ADITI RAJA VADODARA, AUGUST 9 NEARLY EIGHT years after the Vadodara rural police raided an engagement party at Akhand Farm, located on the city's outskirts, in December 2016 and booked 129 people, including prominentcitizensandbusiness personalities under the Gujarat Prohibition Act, the court of Vadodarajudicialmagistratefirst class on Friday acquitted all the accusedstatingthattheevidence presented "does not exclude all reasonable possibilities of innocence" to declare them guilty. While 273 people were detained for alleged alcohol consumption,thepolicehadin2018 filed a 1,099-page chargesheet against 129 people. During the raid on December 22, 2016, police had recovered 11 bottles of foreignliquorand28tinsof beer, worthRs10,700andimpounded 90 luxury cars. The police had CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Rivals, good friends & a podium finish: Neeraj-Arshad show’s ‘big message’ EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, AUGUST 9 MIANCHANNUandKhandraare as nondescript villages as they come. With one throw of the spear, they are now at the heart of the world athletics map. The first, a modest village in Pakistan’s Khanewal district, is where Arshad Nadeem grew up as the jack of all trades. Someone asked the young boy, big for his age, to play badminton. He did, and claims to be quitedecentatit.Anotherperson, helaughs,invitedhimtotryfootball. He duly accepted it — “I was a good full-back”. Cricket came naturally to him and the burly manwithstrongshoulderswasa “feared bowler” in his village. An athletics coach saw him bowlandaskedNadeemtothrow ajavelin.“WhatdidIhavetolose?” Nadeem laughs. “Phek dia!” Across the border, in the othervillagenearPanipat,Neeraj CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Gold medallist Arshad Nadeem and silver medallist Neeraj Chopra after the victory ceremony in Paris, Friday. PTI Ahmedabad