DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SINCE 1932 TMC, BJP TRADE CHARGES Student raped in Kolkata law college, ex-TMC student leader among 3 held Out of college,TMC student wing member still ‘wielded clout’ Main accused an alumnus employed with college; 2 others current students WEST BENGAL MAMATA INAUGURATES FIRST RATH YATRA AT JAGANNATH DHAM TEMPLE IN DIGHA PAGE 3 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, JUNE 27 A 24-YEAR-OLD student was allegedly raped at a law college in Kolkata this week, after which police arrested three men — a contractual staffer, who was a TMCstudents’wingfunctionary, and two students. The three accused have been identified as Monojit Mishra (31), Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukherjee (20). Mishra, the prime accused, was a former student of the law college and is currently employedintheinstitutionasacontractual staffer, officials said. While he was a Trinamool Chhatra Parishad leader during his time as a student, the TMC claimed he is no longer associated with the party. The two other accused are currently studying in the law college. ThecasehasbeenlodgedunderBNSsections127(2)(wrongful confinement), 70(1) (gangrape), and 3(5) (common CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KOLKATA JUNE 27 Members of Left Front organisations protest in front of the law college in Kolkata on Friday. Partha Paul MONOJIT MISHRA, the main accused in the rape of a student at a Kolkata law college, is a member of the ruling TMC’s student wing and a former president of its college unit who wielded Accused Monojit Mishra. Facebook “immense clout “ on campus even after graduating. Mishra, 31, was among three CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The night Delhi fell silent, fearing ‘something far-reaching’ MEETS CHINA COUNTERPART Rajnath for roadmap on de-escalation, border demarcation RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, one of five ADMs in Delhi district when the Emergency was imposed in June 1975, recalls The blank editorial in The Indian Express after the Proclamation THEEMERGENCY 50YEARSON Itsshadow—andlight AN EXPRESS SERIES BIG PICTURE PAGE 8,9 NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 THE ONLY woman Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Delhi, the youngest of the five posted in the Capital, Meenakshi Datta Ghosh never expected to findherselfwhereshedid–apart of the night when Independent Indiawitnessedoneof itsbiggest political upheavals. By the time the Emergency Meenakshi Datta Ghosh got a ringside view of 1975 happenings. Kapil Joshi was imposed, the 27-year-old, whowasonlyinhersecondposting on June 25, 1975, had been witness to the Ramlila Maidan rally that preceded, and maybe evenhastenedtheIndiraGandhi government’s crackdown, and seen how the levers of powers were oiled and wills were bent. “The issue was do I comply with the law, or follow the political cum bureaucratic commands? Do I preserve process CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 We are going to open up India: Trump on trade deal as Delhi team reaches US Market access in agriculture, other sensitive areas sticking point RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 AHEAD OF the arrival of Indian trade negotiators in the US Friday for the final round of inperson talks before the end of the July 9 deadline for reciprocal tariffs, President Donald Trump said the US and India “may” sign a deal that will “open up India”. “Everybody wants to make a deal and have a part of it… We justsignedwithChinayesterday. We are having some great deals. We have one coming up, may be withIndia.Averybigone,where we are going to open up India. In the China deal, we are starting to open up China,” Trump said at a White House event. “We are not going to make US President Donald Trump at the White House. AP deals with everybody. Some, we are just going to send them a letter, say thank you very much… My people don’t want to do it that way. They want to do some of it,buttheywanttomakemore deals than I would do,” he said. The final round of talks CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India’s oil imports from US surged over 270% in first four months of year RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & AGGAM WALIA NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 INDIA’S OIL imports from the US jumped over 270 per cent yearon-year in the first four months of 2025, underscoring Delhi’s strategy of enhancing American imports amid trade pact negotiations and diversifying its sources of crude oil in a volatile geopolitical and geo-economic environment. Negotiations between India and the US for an interim trade deal by July 9 have entered their final phase. According to the latest available data with the Directorate General of Commercial IntelligenceandStatistics(DGCIS), CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PREAMBLE AMENDMENT Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with Chinese Defence Minister Admiral Dong Jun in Qingdao, China. ANI NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 EIGHT MONTHS after the disengagementof troopsattheLineof Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has told his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun that there is need for a “structured roadmap of permanentengagementandde-escalation”.Hecalledfora“permanent solutionof borderdemarcation”. In his talks Thursday with Dong on the sidelines of the meeting of Defence Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Qingdao, Singh underlined the need for E EXPLAINED AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA & SHUBHAJIT ROY ● Moving to repair ties FOLLOWING THE meeting between their leaders in Kazan last October and the disengagement of troops along the LAC in Ladakh, India and China have been trying to repair their ties. The resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is a step in that direction. “bridgingthetrustdeficitcreated afterthe2020borderstandoff,by CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Chouhan and MoS Singh back Hosabale idea, Opp slams remark EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 A DAY after RSS Sarkaryavaha Dattatreya Hosabale called for a discussiononwhetherthewords ‘socialist’and‘secular’,insertedin the Preamble of the Constitution duringtheEmergency,shouldremain there, Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Dr JitendraSinghthrewtheirweight behindtheideaevenasleadersof the Congress and other Opposition parties criticised Hosabale’s remark. Therewasnocommentfrom Shivraj Singh Chouhan; Jitendra Singh the BJP on the RSS leader’s suggestion. Sudhanshu Trivedi, the party’s national spokesperson, attacked the Congress for being “behind every act of tampering CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AAP divided Delhi into two verticals, ignored those paying taxes: CM Gupta EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 27 ACCUSING THE previous AAP government of dividing Delhi into “two verticals” by ignoring tax-payers,Chief MinisterRekha GuptasaidThursdaythatpeople are now “running towards Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida” in the National Capital Region (NCR) instead of setting up busi- Delhi CM Rekha Gupta at the Express Adda in New Delhi on Thursday. Renuka Puri nesses in the city. SpeakingattheExpressAdda Thursday, Gupta also said the BJP'spollpromiseof distributing Rs 2,500 each per month to women from economically weaker sections would be implementedsoon,sayinghergovernment did not want to “rush intothings”.Askedaboutthe ongoing demolition drives in slum clusters, Gupta said it was time CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Out of field, another battle brews between clubs in Yorkshire — of ‘cricket teas’ EXPRESSIN ENGLAND SANDEEP DWIVEDI BIRMINGHAM, JUNE 27 A TEA break for a club cricket gameinthesub-continentistypically a quick round of cutting chai. In case the hosts are generous, there may be a plate of biscuits and a few odd wafers thrownin.InYorkshire,England’s deeply traditional county with 800 clubs and over 125,000 Club players during a tea break in Yorkshire, England recreational players, tea can’t be light, nor can it be taken lightly. Around here, clubs have designated ‘tea ladies’, the honour bestowed on the wife, daughter or sister of a home player who plays host as sandwiches, cakes, scones, and, of course, tea is served. But with that spread, a club can’t expect to win the fiercely contested ‘Cricket Yorkshire Tea of the Year’ competition that’s sponsored by, who else, Yorkshire Tea. In its fourth year, the contest has been announced and alongwith the smell of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata