TUESDAY 28 MARCH 2023 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC www.thestatesman.com KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR SHIV SENA (UBT) TO SKIP OPPN MEET OVER RAHUL’S SAVARKAR REMARK TAIWAN’S EX-PREZ'S CHINA VISIT P5 WEATHER Partly Cloudy sky. Rain/thundershower likely to occur in some areas towards afternoon/evening. Temperature most likely be around 32 °C and 25 °C . RAINFALL: 01.8mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max.84% TEMPERATURE Min.52% Max: 31.6 °C (-3) Min: 25.2 °C (+1) SUN RISES SUN SETS 05:35 hrs 17:50 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 09:25 hrs 23:28 hrs Full Moon on 06 April THUMBNAILS President Droupadi Murmu paid homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko Thakurbari during her visit to Kolkata. (SeePg2) IN MACRON’S FRANCE, STREETS AND FIELDS SEETHE WITH PROTEST P9 IPL 2023: RANA TO LEAD KKR P12 P10 Oppn wears black to protest; BJP hits back Bilkis Bano case: SC issues notice on plea against release of eleven convicts Oppn protested against the Centre over disqualification of Rahul & Adani controversy STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 MARCH earing black attire, Opposition lawmakers, led by Congress, on Monday undertook a march from the Parliament House to Vijay Chowk here to protest against the Centre over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha and the Adani controversy even as the BJP termed the protest as a "drama being enacted to mislead the people". The opposition MPs raised slogans against the Centre at Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Parliament complex and demanded the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee ( JPC) over the Adani issue. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the former party president Sonia Gandhi also joined the protest. Holding a banner of "Satyameva Jayate", the opposition members took out the protest march from Mahatma Gandhi's statue outside Parliament complex till Vijay Chowk, carrying placards and shouting slogans, seeking probe in the Adani matter. Congress MPs were wearing black clothes to protest party leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha. Trinamool Congress, which had earlier indicated that it would not participate in the protests, also W took part. The protests took place soon after both the houses were adjourned amid noisy scenes by opposition members. Earlier today, the opposition MPs held a meeting at the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s Parliament chamber on Monday to formulate the strategy for the day. The opposition parties which participated in the meeting include DMK, Samajwadi Party, JD(U), Bharat Rashtra Samithi, CPI(M), RJD, Nationalist Congress Party, CPI, IUML, MDMK, Kerala Congress, TMC, RSP AAP J, , K NC and Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction). Trinamool Congress MPs also participated in the meeting which came as a huge development following Rahul Gandhi's suspension as MP from Lok Sabha. Addressing the media after a joint opposition march from the Parliament complex towards Vijay Chowk, Kharge hit out at the Centre over the Adani issue and Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as Lok Sabha MP and said that the opposition leaders were wearing the black attire to show that democracy is being trampled in the country. Kharge alleged that the Centre used the probe agencies to bend those who did not bow before the government. "I thank the opposition leaders for raising their voice against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification. Why are we here in black clothes? We want to show that PM Modi is ending democracy in the country. He first finished autonomous bodies, then they put up their own govt everywhere by threatening those who had won polls. Then they used ED, CBI to use bend those who didn't bow," Kharge said. Reacting to the opposition's protests, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday slammed the Congress and said: "Rahul Gandhi continuously insulted the OBC community and did not apologise to them. They don't obey court's order. Why are they creating this drama now? He can never be Savarkar as Savarkar never went on a foreign tour for six months." Union Minister Piyush Goyal, at a press conference, alleged that the Congress party is not letting Parliament run and is also misleading the people through its statements. Rahul gets notice to vacate govt bungalow by April: Disqualified from the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been sent a notice by the Lok Sabha House Committee to vacate his Parliament-allotted bungalow by 22nd April. Gandhi has been asked to vacate 12, Tughlaq Lane occupied by him and given a 30 day notice period to vacate the premises to avoid eviction. The Congress leader was convicted in a criminal defamation case by a Surat court on 23rd March, and has to vacate the house by 22nd April. SNS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 MARCH Asking the Centre and the Gujarat government to come ready with the relevant file relating to pre-mature release of 11 convicts, the Supreme Court on Monday sought reply from the Centre, Gujarat government and all the 11 convicts on a plea by 2002 Gujarat riots gangrape victim Bilkis Bano challenging the pre-mature release of 11 convicts who had gangraped her, killed seven members of her family including her three-year-old daughter in March 2002 at Vadodara. Issuing notice, directing all the parties to complete the pleading and positing the matter for a detailed hearing on April 18, Justice K.M. Joseph heading a bench also compr8ising Justice B.V. Nagarathna asked, “We have before us many murder cases where convicts are languishing in jails without remission for years. Is this a case where standards have been applied uniformly as in other cases too?” Justice Joseph said that there is a gamut of issues involved and it needs to hear the matter in detail. As it was sought to impress upon the court that 11 convicts were released after a direction of the apex court to consider their application for remission of sentence under the 1992 Gujarat government’s remission policy, suggesting that the issue cannot be revisited, the bench referred to former Maharashtra Chief Minister late A.R. Antulays case which kept on coming back to the apex court. As those defending the premature release of 11-convicts questioned the locus of PIL petitioners in a criminal matter, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that they were questioning the basis of the grant of premature release which was not case specific. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi too joined Sibal pointing to post release conduct of 11-convicts. Senior advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for petitioner challenging the pre-mature release, said that the entire procedure leading to the release of 11 convicts was flawed as Mumbai police alone, under the law , could have undertaken the exercise as trial of 11 convicts took -place in Mumbai. Gujarat government has defended its decision to grant remission of sentence to 11 convicts, saying that it had secured “suitable orders” for grant of remission to the convicts from the Centre.