DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 24 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ATTACKS WIDESPREAD, OVER 50 OF TOTAL 64 DISTRICTS HIT: COMMUNITY LEADERS Yunus reaches out to Bangla Hindus, visits temple, underlines justice, equal rights for all Hasina seeks justice, calls for mourning on day father was assassinated Interim Govt sets up hotline to report attacks on temples, churches, pagodas SHUBHAJIT ROY DHAKA, AUGUST 13 WITH THE Hindu minority in Bangladesh facing attacks in the lastweek,afterSheikhHasinaresignedasPrimeMinisterandfled to India on August 5, Chief AdvisorMuhammadYunus,who is heading the interim government, reached out on Tuesday with a visit to the Dhakeshwari Temple where he met communityleadersandassured“justice” and “equal rights” for all. “Rights are equal for everyone. We are all one people with one right. Do not make any distinctions among us. Pleaseassist us. Exercise patience, and later judge--whatwewereabletodo and not do. If we fail, then criticise us,” Yunus said, after meeting minority leaders. He said the administration would work towards a situation where Hindus and other minorities don't have to fear for their safety. Accordingtominorityorganisations, there have been at least five deaths and 205 incidents of attacks on Hindus in over 50 districts since the fall of the Hasina 14/08/2024 72 100 122 64 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD HASINA FACES MURDER CHARGES, PLAINTIFF GETS DEATH THREAT INDIAN VISA CENTRE IN DHAKA RESUMES LIMITED OPS PAGE 15 NAGPUR MAN RUNS SUV OVER TWO SLEEPING MEN ON VERSOVA BEACH; ONE DEAD MUMBAI HAS WATER STOCK FOR 280 DAYS, CUT UNLIKELY TILL MID-2025 PAGES 3 & 4 DHAKA, AUGUST 13 Muhammad Yunus at the Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka. PTI Govt should have spoken out against quota, met protesters: Hasina son RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 13 ADMITTING THAT mistakes were made in handling the student protests, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told The Indian Express in an interview that the government should have engaged with the protesters from the very beginning and Sajeeb Wazed Joy spoken out against the quotas much earlier. “I believe our government should have spoken out against thequotasandmetwiththepro- testers from the beginning instead of leaving it to the courts... Our government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to reducethequotas.Irecommended we take a public stance, stating the court made a mistake and we don't want the quotas. But ourgovernmentchosenotto,expecting the judicial system to handle it,” said Joy, who served as IT adviser to Hasina and now CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN HER first public statement since her ouster on August 5, Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday set the stage for a possible confrontation in Dhaka, as she asked people to observe August 15 -- the anniversary of the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- as 'national mourningday' by placingwreathsattheBangabandhu Memorial Museum. This came on a day when the interim government decided to cancel the national holiday on August 15. This decision was approved at an advisory council meeting in Jamuna on Tuesday. Hasina'sstatementinBengali waspostedonXbyherUS-based son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Stating that “many lives have been lost due to vandalism, arson and violence since last July”, Hasina condoled the deaths of “students,teachers, police,pregnant policewomen, journalists, cultural activists, leaders of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delhi L-G rejects AAP choice, picks Gahlot to hoist Tricolour on I-Day EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, AUGUST 13 IN A fresh tussle with the AAP government, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on TuesdaynominatedDelhiHome Minister Kailash Gahlot to hoist thenationalflagintheCapitalon Independence Day, days after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Education Minister Atishi wouldtakehisplaceattheevent. Every year, the Delhi government's General Administration Department (GAD) organises Independence Day celebrations CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE SHUBHAJIT ROY E E X P L A I NE D EXPRESS INDHAKA government on August 5. On August 8, as Yunus was sworn in, Prime Minister NarendraModihadextendedhis bestwishesandurgedhimtoensure“thesafetyandprotectionof Hindus and all other minority communities”. This direct reference to the safety of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh underlined Delhi’s expectations from the new players in Dhaka. “In our democratic aspirations, we should not be seen as Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists, but as human beings. Our rights shouldbeensured.Therootof all problems lies in the decay of institutional arrangements. That is why such issues arise. Institutional arrangements need to be fixed,” Yunus said on Tuesday. “We have to establish human rights and freedom of speech. That is our prime goal,” he said. ● The latest standoff THE L-G’S office has sought to underline the issue of the “missing” CM and the “impasse” created by his absence. In the past, the L-G's office has said that Kejriwal's decision to not step down as CM has created hurdles in the government’s functioning. READY FOR I-DAY The CSMT railway station in Mumbai is decked up with tricolour lights on Tuesday, ahead of Independence Day. Ganesh Shirsekar LADKI BAHIN SCHEME IN MAHARASHTRA Assam CM gave it ‘flood jihad’ tag, Govt has a task: linking varsity gets national rank honour 27 lakh bank accounts with Aadhaar in 4 days SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, AUGUST 13 THE MOOD at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya wasupbeat Tuesday. A day earlier, the Ministry of Education had announced the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024 and the institute had featured in the list of top 200universities–the only private university from the Northeast to make it to the list. The same day, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma USTM Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque addresses students and faculty on Tuesday had launched another tirade against the university after havingaccuseditof “floodjihad”the previous week. On Tuesday afternoon, the university administration held a shortcelebrationinits5000-seat auditorium. Addressing the students,facultyandmembersofthe administration gathered there, Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque began by commenting on the timing of the good news: “Kabhi aankh jalne se, upar paani daalne se achha lagta hai, hai na? (Sometimeswhenyoureyesburn, doesn’titfeelgoodwhenwateris putonit?)”.Thisdrewcheersand hoots from the students. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, AUGUST 13 WITH FOUR days left for the state governmentto transfer the first installment of Rs 1,500 in each beneficiary account under the Chief Minister’s Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme on August 17, the administration is facing an uphilltaskof linkingbankaccounts of around 27 lakh registered beneficiaries with their Aadhaar numbers, failing which they will miss out on first scheduled payment on Saturday, when the scheme will be launched. While the government has found atleast 1.35 crore women eligibleforthestategovernment’s flagship scheme where the family income did not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh,ithasbeenfoundthatatleast 27lakheligiblebeneficiariesdonot CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JUNIOR DOCTOR’S RAPE & MURDER Students hold a protest at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday. Partha Paul Unhappy with handling of Kolkata case, HC orders CBI probe Pulls up authorities, hospital principal who quit to join another sent on leave ATRI MITRA & RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, AUGUST 13 EXPRESSING DISPLEASUREover thehandlingof thecaseof thealleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at R G Kar Medical College and observing that “there appears to be no significant progress in the investigation”, the Calcutta High Court Tuesday transferred the probe from Kolkata Police to the CBI. A division bench, comprising Chief JusticeTSSivagnanamand JusticeHiranmayBhattacharyya, said it would monitor the probe andtheCBIwouldberequiredto submit a report to the court in three weeks. The bench directed the Kolkata Police to hand over the case diary and other documents to the CBI by 10 am Wednesday. Following the High Court order, sources in New Delhi said theCBI registeredafreshcaseafter taking over the investigation and a team of forensic experts will leave Delhi to visit the spot to lift evidence. “Currently, we are assigning tasks to all the team members and will probe the case from all possible an- PROTESTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY MAHARASHTRA: Resident doctors started an indefinite strike Tuesday, halting elective services at hospitals. RAJASTHAN: Services at government hospitals in Jaipur hit by the strike by resident doctors. CHANDIGARH: Services at the PGIMER remained partially shut as resident doctors continued their strike for a second day. JHARKHAND: Junior doctors at state-run RIMS in Ranchi boycotted OPD services and elective surgeries. TRIPURA: Doctors and students of Agartala Government Medical College staged a protest. gles,” sources said. Six pleas were filed in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ajit Pawar: Made a mistake by pitting wife against Sule in LS polls EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, PUNE, AUGUST 13 MAHARASHTRA DEPUTY Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar has said that he made a “mistake” by fielding his wife SunetraPawaragainsthiscousin Supriya Sule from Baramati in the recent Lok Sabha polls. “I love all my sisters. One should not allow politics to enter homes. I made a mistake in fielding Sunetra against my sister. This should not have happened. But the parliamentary board (of NCP) made a decision. NowIfeelitwaswrong,”Ajitsaid on Monday in an interview with the Marathi news channel “Jai Ajit Pawar; Supriya Sule Maharashtra”. Sule is the daughter of the NCP founder Sharad Pawar, who isnow theNCP (SP)chief.Sherefrained from making any comments on Ajit's remarks, saying that “I have not heard Ajit Pawar'sstatementandtherefore I cannot comment on it”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Helping Wayanad: Girls broke piggy bank, a widow her surgery fund PAGE 1 ANCHOR SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUGUST 13 A 76-YEAR-OLD decided her long-pendingsurgerycouldwait, a fish vendor gave up his day’s savings,twosistersagreeditwas time to break their piggy bank — in the aftermath of the July 30 Wayanad landslide that tore through the hills of the north Kerala district, killing nearly 231 peopleandwashingawayhomes andproperty,contributionssuch as these have been pouring in from across the state into the Chief Minister’sRelief Fund(CMDRF). Nearly 130 landslide victims are still missing. Among those who contributed to the CMDRF — Rs 110.55 crore, as of August 13 — aredailyworkers,students,widows and the elderly. Moved by the enormity of the tragedy and responding to the state government's call seeking contributions for relief operations, they put their everyday lives and needs on hold and dipped into their meagre savings At Chiyyaram in Thrissur, Class7studentSivanandanaand her sister Shivanya, a Class 1 student, handed over to their parents the Rs 3,050 that they had collected over the past year. “They were mostly coins of Re 1, Rs 2 and 5 that I had given them. My elder daughter wanted to buy a new TV and the younger one a bicycle. They were moved by what they saw in Wayanad and Sivanandana said she wanted to contribute. Shivanya alsoagreed.Bothof themagreed that the TV and cycle could be bought later,” says their father C SSaneesh, agoldsmith.Thefamilylivesina600-sq-foothousein the village. Students from Manipur, who study in Kerala, hand over a cheque of Rs 1 lakh as Wayanad relief contribution Edathil Sreedharan, 64, a fish vendoratPanoorinKannur,contributedhisday’scollectionof Rs 53,000 to the CMDRF. “I always watchTVnewswhileeating...It's a daily habit. But after watching news of the Wayanad tragedy, I just can't eat anything... the food just won't go down my throat. Giving up a day's earnings is the least I can do. There are people who have lost everything in Wayanad,” he says. SavithriL,76,anativeof Anad village in Thiruvananthapuram, donated Rs 25,000 — the money she had kept aside for a corrective surgery for her bow legs. “I hadmanagedtosavealittlefrom my agriculture labour pension. I thought I would finally get the surgery done because the pain in my legs was getting unbearable. But when I saw photographs and videos from Wayanad, I thought their pain was much greater than mine. At leastIgettoeatthreetimesaday. My surgery can wait,” she says. The parents of Muhammad Fidel, a Class 2 student who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, made a difficult decision—theydecidedtohandover their son's savings of Rs 16,000 from the piggy bank to the CMDRF. “We were hoping to buy a car that can accommodate his wheelchair. He agreed to part with his piggy bank, where he saved his monthly disability pension amount (Rs 1,600). The car will have to wait. It was his decision to help the people of Wayanad," says his mother Thasni. Her husband Noufal Shah works in the Gulf. At Chembilode panchayat in Kannur,the22-memberHaritha Karma Sena, a women's selfhelp group that collects nonbiodegradable waste from houses,contributedRs40,000to the CM's Fund. Most of these women come from families that are below the poverty line and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2