DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES SINCE 1932 PM, UNION MINISTERS TO ATTEND SWEARING-IN TODAY RekhaGuptaisDelhiCM,says willtakecityto‘newheights’ Cabinet to have representation from across sections of Delhi JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 CM-designate Rekha Gupta outside her residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. Gajendra Yadav BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SAMAN HUSAIN & ANKITA UPADHYAY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 ONWEDNESDAYevening,asthe news came in that Rekha Gupta had been chosen as the next Chief Minister of Delhi, a huge crowd of BJP supporters and her family members gathered CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS PAGE 4 Hearing PIL on stampede, Delhi HC asks Rlys: Why sell excess tickets? SOHINI GHOSH NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 DAYS AFTER 18 people were killed in a stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday questionedtheRailwaysonthesaleof excess tickets at railway stations. HearingaPILontheFebruary 15 stampede, the division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela sought a response from the Centre and Railways. “If youfixthenumberof passengers to be accommodated in a coach, then why do you sell... why do the number of tickets soldexceedthatnumber?Thatis CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From DUSU president to councillor to Delhi CM CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Amid trade pact talk, Trump repeats: For India, reciprocal tariff ‘Whatever you charge, I am charging. He (Modi) said, no, no, I don’t like that’ RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 DAYS AFTER his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attheWhiteHouse,USPresident DonaldTrumphasindicatedthat tariff concessions for India may not be on offer yet. During atelevision interview withFoxNews,Trumpdescribed his conversation with Modi: “Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal.Whateveryoucharge, I am charging. He (Modi) responded, ‘No, no, I don’t like that.’ No, no, whatever you charge,Iamgoingtocharge.Iam doing that with every country.” E E X P L A I NE D ELEVEN DAYS after it ousted the AAP to end its 27-year exile from power in the Capital, the BJP Wednesday named 50-year-old Rekha Gupta, the newly-elected MLA from Shalimar Bagh, as Chief Minister of Delhi. A first-time legislator, Gupta will be administered the oath of office Thursday with six other ministersattheRamlilaMaidan. The composition of the Council of Ministers, sources said, will have “adequate representation” fromeachof thecity’sprominent castes and community groups, including a leading Sikh face. In first remarks after being namedCM,Gupta,whowassaid to have topped the list of “young and organisationally-experienced leaders in the party” prepared by the BJP brass in consultation with the RSS over the last ● Cong’s Alka Lamba (right) posted this photo with Gupta on X. This was when they won DUSU polls in 1995 MUDA case: Lokayukta police to close probe against Siddaramaiah Police cite lack of evidence against CM and wife The likely fallout WHILE DETAILS of reciprocal tariffs are expected in April, a Goldman Sachs report said India could be affected by Trump’s tariffs at a country level, product level, or through non-tariff barriers, and this may complicate trade relations. “Now,if hebuiltthefactoryin India,that’sokay,butthat’sunfair CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, FEBRUARY 19 CITING LACK of evidence, the Karnataka Lokayukta police is set to file a closure report in its investigationintoallegedirregularities in the allotment of 14 housing sites by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife in 2021. In a notice to RTI activist CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION Ragging deaths: Complaints spike, system stuck in grey zone, SC guidelines on paper RUPSA CHAKRABORTY & PALLAVI SMART DEATHONCAMPUS ■THE VIDEO shows a boy on a cot with his hands and legs tied. A group of other boys is seen jabbing him with a sharp object, laughing while doing so, while the victim is heardcrying.Thisclipisnowthefocus of a Kerala police investigation into an alleged case of ragging at a government nursing college in Kottayam — the latest reminder of a menace that continues to haunt the hallways of educational institutions across the country. ragging complaints to UGC helpline MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 19 SUPREME COURT guidelines to eradicate ragging from 15 years ago that haven’t gone much beyond tokenism on college campuses; government regulations that remain on paper; a regulatory system that, authorities say, is undermined by complaints that are either “frivolous” or difficult to track down — and the challenge of coming up with a widely accepted legal definition of ragging itself. Thesearethekeyreasonsbehind a sharp spike in ragging complaints logged so far by a dedicated helpline set up in 2009 by the University Grants CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 8,000 208% surge in ragging complaints 1,202 complaints from UP, most among states 78 suicide/ death cases alleged due to ragging Narender Singh and Bindu at their Gurgaon home. Their son Tushar, 19, died on IIT-Guwahati campus in 2014. Renuka Puri LOOKING FOR CLOSURE 10 ‘Doors are open, hoping my son will come home’ Note: Data from 2012 to 2023 from UGC, RTI RUPSA CHAKRABORTY & PALLAVI SMART suicide/ death cases in Maharashtra, most among states INSIDE UGCCHIEF FLAGS WEAK ENFORCEMENT OF REGULATIONS P 6 MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 19 A MOTHER in Assam who came to know that her son’s body had signs of a gunshot wound and a stab injury on the neck; a father in UP who gave up hope after pursuing his daughter’s death for three years; an elder brother in Telangana who re- mains hopeful that justice will be delivered. These are the searing stories that bring to life the number 78 — the count of students who died on campus allegedly due to ragging, between 2012 and 2023, according to data from the University Grants Commission (UGC) that was obtained under the RTI Act and investigated by The Indian Express. CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM