The editorial Page: a new moment in which mass mobilisation meets an immovable state 8 SaTUrDaY, OCTOBEr 10, 2026 JournalISm of Courage MuMbAI, lAte CIty, 18 PAGeS ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I ly F r O M : A H M e DA b A D , C H A N D I GA r H , D e l H I , J A I P u r , KO l K AtA , l u C K N O w , M u M b A I , N AG P u r , PAt N A , P u N e , vA D O DA r A reG.no. mcs/067/2018 - 20 rnI reGn. no. 1543/57 Delhi locks down to block Deeply offensive, do not advance shared protests seeking CEC exit ambitions: India TruMP aDMN MOVeS aGaINST IT FIrMS 120 148 184 245 trains to and from Delhi cancelled; 45 Metro stations shut 77 happening today lCJI Surya Kant will inaugu- rate a two-day national consultation to assess the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and identify priorities for strengthening child protection and juvenile justice. lThe 16Th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship kicks off with 29 teams. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com admitting ‘instancesof bulkForm7 filingforvoter deletion’,eC setslimit express News Service NOTING ThAT “instances” of filing of bulk Form 7s had led to “avoidable inconvenience” to voters, the election Commission of India (eCI) Friday tightenedlimitsonthenumber of applications that can be submitted by individuals. Form 7 is the statutory form to seek deletion of an elector or file objection to the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll. In instructions issued to Chief electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories, the eCI has put a limit of 10 Form 7s per individual, in both online and offline mode, during the claims and objections period of the revision process, andfivepermonthduringcontinuous updation of electoral rolls in the normal course. While the eCI already caps the number of online Form 7s an individual can file to six at a time, there was no limit on the number of Form 7s that an individual could submit physically to electoral Registration Officers (eROs). The commission has been facing flak over reports of targetedbulkForm7submissions, and in its instructions Friday, the eC referred to the same. “… instances have been brought to the notice of the Commission of filing of Form 7 objectionsinbulkbyindividual electors on unsubstantiated grounds,resultinginavoidable inconvenience to the elector objected upon and increased workload on field-level functionaries,” it said. In recent days, Karnataka ChiefMinisterdKShivakumar has alleged that BJP workers had been given pre-printed Form 7 applications to seek deletion of voters in the ongoing Special Intensive centre alerts all states, detention centres across Delhi Shubhajit roy & Divya a New Delhi, October 9 FORTy FIVe stations on the delhi Metro network were closed, at least 245 trains arriving at or leaving New delhi and hazrat Nizamuddin stations werecancelled,mobileInternet was shut down in a large part of Central delhi, and layers of barricades were put up across the streets of the Capital and at its borders as the government movedtofortifythecityagainst the protest called on Saturday by the Cockroach Janta Party, the All India Students’ Association and others to demand the resignation of Chief election CommissionerGyaneshKumar. On Friday evening, at least 30,000 police and paramilitary forces had thrown an unprecedented multi-level security blanket over delhi. Union home Secretary Govind Mohan wrote to all states and UnionTerritoriestosaythatthe government had prohibited »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY New Delhi, October 9 Police place barricades at Vijay chowk as part of security arrangements on Friday, a day before the protests at Jantar mantar. AbHINAv SAHA Trains ran on time even SC to Govt: Ensure Metro, during Emergency: CJP’s trains not halted fully, can’t Dipke slams clampdown express News Service use hammer to kill a fly ‘DON’T INCONVeNIeNCe CITIZeNS’ ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, October 9 exPReSSING CONCeRN over the closure of 57 Metro stations — later revised to 45 — in the Capital and cancellation of several delhi-bound trains as part of security measures ahead of Saturday’s Cockroach Janta Party protest to press for the resignation of Chief election Commissioner Gyanesh presidentacceptedoppstatementon‘vote chori’,toldustobringproof,saysrahul Kumar, the Supreme Court Friday reminded authorities about the “principle of proportionality” and said while they can take steps “it does not mean that you will use a hammer to kill a fly”. The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana directed the governmenttoensurethatthereis“no »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 Mumbai, October 9 TheNOTICeSservedonCockroach Janta Party (CJP) supportersacrossMaharashtraand the detention of over 200 people in Mumbai on Friday trace back to a meeting called bytheMinistryofhomeAffairs (MhA) on October 4, almost a IndIa bloc leaders after their meeting with the President at rashtrapati Bhavan, Friday. AbHINAv SAHA rePorT page 7 l securityblanketoncapital Police from October 8-12. l LIquOr STOreS in Delhi shut Friday and Saturday. l hOTeLS, GueST hOuSeS aND OyO rOOMS in and around Central Delhi as well as in parts of South and North Delhi asked to shut or restrict fresh bookings. l 221 COMPaNIeS of CAPF, including five all-women paramilitary companies, will assist Delhi l MObILe INTerNeT connectivity was shut down in a large part of Central Delhi. l 245 trains arriving at or leaving New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations were cancelled, »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 CAllING The cancellation of trains to delhi a curb on citizen rights, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet dipke Friday said the situation was “worse than the emergency” when “at least trains were running on time”. Speaking at loksamvad, an event organised in Mumbai by The Indian express Group’s »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 week before the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar, The Indian express has learnt. Sources said the meeting, attended by the Union home Secretary, several state dGPs and select police commissioners, was called to ensure protesters did not leave their hometownsandreachdelhifor the October 10 protest. The express News Service Bhopal, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, October 9 a videograb of protesters being forced to alight a train at Itarsi explained Widening of crackdown The latest US action is a clear broadening of crackdown on foreign workers that has become a central policy under Trump. Technology and IT services companies are facing greater scrutiny over their reliance on foreign workers. US authorities have stepped up their probe into alleged misuse of H-1B and PERM programmes. gest IT outsourcing firms in the world from the Permanent labour Certification Programme. »CONTINueD ON PaGe 12 the world 2026 noBeL PrIze peace NaVaNeTheM ‘NaVI’ PILLay pUtin voWs closer ties With Why the jurist’s work matters for a world former soviet facing ‘existential neighBoUrs page 14 cJP founder abhijeet dipke at Loksamvad, an event in mumbai by Loksatta. GANeSH SHIrSeKAr same day, a “confidential letter”wentoutfromtheMaharashtra dGP’s office to police units across the state, and notices have been served on would-beprotestersinthestate since then. A second meeting was held by the Union home Ministry on October 8 to check preparedness. »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 MP police remove protesters from trains to Delhi, detentions in Gujarat AheAd OF the Cockroach Janta Party’s Saturday protest intheCapital,policeinMadhya Pradesh intercepted and removed delhi-bound protesters at Bhopal, Itarsi and Gwalior railway stations, with a senior Madhya Pradesh police officer The US decision to suspend eightITfirms,includingMicrosoft,TataConsultancyServices, Infosys and Wipro, from a programme to apply for green cards for foreign workers drew a sharp response from India Friday which said the steps announced “do not advance the shared ambitions” of both countries. On US Vice President J d Vance referring to foreign workers hired on h1-B visas as “foreign indentured servants”, the Ministry of external Affairs said “resorting to terminology that carries painful historical and colonial legacy connotations is deeply offensive”. delhi’s response came hours after the US administrationsuspendedsomeofthelar- Mumbai, New Delhi, Oct 9 Maharashtra: Behind notices, detentions, Union Home Ministry’s Oct 4 meet Mohamed Thaver l 45 MeTrO stations shut from 9 pm Friday until further notice. on Vance, US steps Do not view immigration, skilled talent mobility through same lens: Nasscom Pragynesh, Mahender Singh Manral, alok Singh, Sakshi Chand, Dheeraj Mishra & Devansh Mittal more reports, pages 4, 7 New Delhi, October 9 barricades on key roads, city entry points under watch saying at least 30 people had been detained and were counselled to return to their home states. “We have removed the protesters(fromthetrains),”theofficer said, adding that those intercepted included people travelling from Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. On Friday, the detention of »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 challenges’ explained, p 11 Debt-ridden Mumbai Metro 1’s financial rescue deal collapses Sabah Virani Mumbai, October 9 A deAl meant to rescue the company running Mumbai’s first Metro line from its debts has collapsed, pushing it back into insolvency proceedings and leaving lakhs of commuters waiting indefinitely for longer trains. The Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One Pvt ltd (MMOPl), which runs theVersova-GhatkoparMetro1 line, had signed a debt-restructuring agreement that promised to ease its financial strain. That agreement has now fallen through. Operations on the line, which carries around five lakh passengers every weekday, will not be affected. But fresh insolvency proceedings could hit the company’s ability to expand its four-car trains to sixcar trains, which would cost an approximate Rs 330 crore, and the wait for longer trains is likely continue indefinitely. The Anil Ambani-led Fresh insolvency proceedings could hit the company’s ability to expand its four-car trains to six-car trains, which would cost an approximate rs 330 crore. AMIt CHAKrAvArty MMOPl owes Rs 2,771.32 crore to the National Asset Reconstruction Company limited (NARCl), a governmentbackedcompanythattookover the loans given by Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, SBI and IdBI Bank. It owes another Rs 1,745 croretoIndiaInfrastructureFinance Company (UK) limited (IIFCl UK), as per IIFCl UK’s petition, its lender of foreign »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2 lPrImaTe Was LIkeLY TraFFIcked; rePaTrIaTIon Process In an adVanced sTaGe, saY oFFIcIaLs Seized from Thane two years ago, infant orangutan set to return to Indonesia Nikhil Ghanekar Jamnagar district of Gujarat, was seized by the Thane forest division along with nine other SeIzedFROManapartmentin wildlife species suspected to be dombivli by a Thane forest partofaconsignmentofillegally division team in November trafficked animals. 2024, a male orangutan, beIndonesian authorities and lieved to be around 3 people aware of the page 1 years old, will soon matter in India said be repatriated to Inrelevant permits and donesia, Indian and approvals,especially Indonesian officials have told fromIndia,havealreadybeenisThe Indian Express. sued with a few formalities The orangutan, currently pendingontheIndonesianside, housedintheGreenszoological and the repatriation is likely to Rescue and Rehabilitation happen in the coming days. Centre (GzRRC) at Vantara in Officials from the Ministry New Delhi, October 9 anchor ofenvironment,ForestandClimate Change (MoeFCC) and the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia have confirmedthattherepatriation processisinanadvancedstage. “RegardingMaharashtraOrangutan, necessary permission is being given and it is expected that the animal is to go back to Indonesiaindaystocome.Both theIndianagenciesandIndonesian agencies are in touch and doingtheneedful,”anMoeFCC official said in response to a query by The IndianExpress. Post seizure, the primate The male orangutan was seized from an apartment in dombivli, Thane along with other wildlife species. SPeCIAl ArrANGeMeNt was initially sent to the Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International zoological Park, Nagpur. later, it was transferred to the GzRRC in March 2025,ontheorderofaSupreme Court-appointedhigh-powered committee (hPC), headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice deepak Verma, according to official records. Maharashtra’s then Chief Wildlife Warden, M Srinivasa Rao, had directed the Gorewada zoo on March 1, 2025, to transfer the animal to GzRCC for proper rehabilitation until itsfinalrepatriation.Thisdirective cited the hPC’s view that keeping the orangutan in a local zoo might not be suitable, according to the records. A repatriation process, in coordination with Indonesia, was already underway in 2025 when the hPC ordered the primate’s transfer. Indonesia had issued an import permit, the records showed. ThehPCwastaskedin2023 to deal with welfare of wild animals, including, among other, procurement or welfare of wild animals by any rescue or reha- bilitation centre or zoo and recommendtransferofownership of captive animals or of seized wild animals. Under the CITeS international treaty — Convention on International Trade in endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — which regulates cross-border trade in animals and plants, orangutans are listed under Appendix-I, restricting their trade strictly to purposes such as research, transfers between recognised zoos and for breeding projects. »CONTINueD ON PaGe 2