FRIDAY 11 JULY 2025 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR P5 SENSEX 83,190.28 q345.80 WEATHER Generally Cloudy sky with one or two spells of light rain/ thundershower very likely to occur. RAINFALL: 020.7 mm NIFTY 25,355.25 q120.85 ` vs $ 85.76 NEW DELHI, 10 JULY TEMPERATURE SUN SETS 18:25 hrs MOON SETS 04:05 hrs Full Moon on 11 July THUMBNAILS A view of the Taj Mahal amid rain during the monsoon season, in Agra on Thursday. nANI Earthquake hits Delhi-NCR; Epicentre in Haryana's Jhajjar: Residents of Delhi-NCR region felt strong tremors as an earthquake struck the area on Thursday morning. As per the data provided by the National Centre of Seismology, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake jolted the region at around 9:04 AM, with the epicentre in Haryana's Jhajjar, at a depth of 10 kilometres. Strong tremors were felt in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and parts of Punjab. Centre to grant over `1,000 cr to seven states affected by floods, landslides T he Supreme Court on Thursday declined to stay the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the State Assembly elections slated for November 2025, but asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider accepting Aadhaar, ration cards, and voter ID cards as valid proof of identity. A vacation Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the ECI’s 24 June directive, said the Commission must provide reasons if it chooses not to accept these widely held documents. “After going through the documents, ECI has pointed out that the list of documents for verification of voters includes 11 documents and is not exhaustive. Thus, in our opinion, it would be in the interest of justice if Aadhaar card, EPIC (voter ID), and ration card are included. It is for the ECI to still decide whether it wants to accept these documents. If not, it must give reasons,” the Bench stated. Posting the matter for further hearing on 28 July, the court granted the ECI time till 21 July to file its reply. The petitioners can file their rejoinder by 28 July. While noting that the petitioners had not pressed for an interim stay on the process, the court framed three key questions for adjudication. “We are prima facie of the opinion that there are three questions: Powers of ECI to conduct the process, the procedure to exercise the powers and the timeline which is very short and election due in November and Woman tennis player allegedly shot dead by father notification will come in advance," the vacation bench said in its order, spelling out the issues on which the arguments will be advanced by both the sides. The court questioned the rationale behind the exclusion of Aadhaar and EPIC from the list of acceptable identity proofs. “Suppose I want a caste certificate. I show my Aadhaar card and get it. So Aadhaar is accepted there. But not here? This entire exercise is about identity,” Justice Dhulia remarked. Justice Bagchi added: "Since Aadhaar is accepted for inclusion under Section 23, it should be included here as well. Your list includes documents like matricula- Canara Bank drops fraud charge against Anil Ambani’s `1,050 cr loan account STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 JULY MUMBAI, 10 JULY The Centre has approved the release of Rs. 1,066.80 crore to the flood and landslidesaffected states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Kerala, and Uttarakhand. Among the six flood-affected states, Assam received Rs. 375.60 crore, Manipur-Rs. 29.20 crore, Meghalaya-Rs. 30.40 crore, Mizoram- Rs. 22.80 crore, Kerala-Rs. 153.20 crore and Uttarakhand-Rs. 455.60 crore as the central share from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), an official release said on Thursday. These states have been affected due to extremely heavy rainfall, floods and landslides during the south-west monsoon of this year. This year, the Centre has already released Rs. 6,166.00 crore from SDRF to 14 States and Rs. 1,988.91 crore from NDRF to 12 states. Canara Bank informed the Bombay High Court on Thursday that it has withdrawn its classification of industrialist Anil Ambani's Rs 1,050-crore loan account as "fraudulent". In June, the State Bank of India (SBI) had classified a loan account of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications as "fraudulent". Canara Bank's latest move comes after Reliance Communications, along with its unit, was initially labelled "fraudulent" due to allegations of misappropriating a Rs 1,050-crore loan. It was alleged by Canara Bank that the funds, originally sanctioned in 2017 for capital expenditure and debt repayment, were misused, resulting in the November 2024 "fraudulent" classification. (Pg 10) STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 JULY A 25-year-old national level woman tennis player based in Gurugram, Haryana, was allegedly shot dead by her father on Thursday. It is said that Radhika Yadav’s father allegedly shot at her following a heated argument, and he has been taken into custody by the police. The incident happened at around 10.30 a.m, where the deceased was hit by three bullets that were fired at her from a licensed firearm. It is said that the father and daughter had a heated argument with regard to the tennis academy which was being run by the victim. She was rushed to a private hospital following the incident, but succumbed to the gunshot injuries. The police have seized the weapon involved in the offence, while further investigation is being conducted, including forensic examination and others. Family members of the deceased are also being questioned by the police over the incident and the situation between the fatherdaughter duo. HCA president arrested for IPL scam, Azhar calls for disbandment of body STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE HYDERABAD, 10 JULY Telangana CID has arrested five people, including the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), A Jagan Mohan Rao, for forgery of documents and misappropriation of funds following an IPL ticket scam. Chief minister A Revanth Reddy had ordered a CID inquiry after IPL franchisee Sunrisers Hyderabad had threatened to move out of the city and choose a different venue for the rest of the IPL season after alleging harassment by HCA for complimentary tickets, particularly by the HCA president. Apart from Mr Rao, the CID arrested the treasurer of HCA, JS Srinivasa Rao and CEO Sunil Kante along with C P4 GOLD `99,830 P12 SILVER `108,500 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 68.88 SC refuses to stay Bihar Mamata slams harassment of Bengali speakers in electoral roll revision Delhi’s Jai Hind camp PARMOD KUMAR Min. 89% Max: 29.6˚C (-3.2) Min: 25.1˚C (-1.8) SUN RISES 04:59 hrs MOON RISES 18:18 hrs P8 ‘GILL'S DECISIONS HAVE BEEN MEASURED ONES’ Court asked ECI to consider Aadhaar, ration card, voter ID as valid proof RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 99% THAROOR DESCRIBES EMERGENCY AS ‘DARK CHAPTER’ ‘COLONISATION PRODUCED CLERKS, NOT THINKERS’ NITISH EXPANDS 35 PC QUOTA FOR WOMEN ACROSS ALL ROLES Rajendra Yadav and his wife, G Kavitha. Following the arrest, former cricketer and ex-HCA president Mohammad Azharuddin called for the disbandment of the current HCA administration. According to a statement issuedbyCID,theproberevealed that the HCA president gained entry into the association through forged documents, which were procured through C Rajendra Yadav and his wife, C Kavitha, who were the general secretary and president of Sri Chakra Club, respectively. They forged the signature of Sri C Krishna Yadav, who is the president of Gowlipura Cricket Club. “These forged documents were used as genuine, enabling A Jagan Mohan Rao to dishonestly gain entry into HCA as president,” stated CID. The investigators found Mr Rao had colluded with the other accused persons, namely treasurer CJ Srinivas Rao and HCA CEO Sunil Kante and misappropriated public funds and also intimidated and blackmailed officials of Sunrisers Hyderabad over complimentary tickets and access to corporate boxes and threatened them with dire consequences. The five accused were arrested by the CID yesterday evening. The demand for complimentary tickets for IPL matches made by HCA over and above the 3900 passes already given by the franchisee was allegedly linked to black marketing, denying genuine cricket fans. tion certificate ~ all identity related." Under the SIR, voters not included in the 2003 rolls must now furnish proof of citizenship. Those born after December 2004 must also provide documents of both parents, and if a parent is a foreign national, their passport and visa at the time of the applicant’s birth must be submitted. Petitioners, including NGOs like the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and public figures like TMC MP Mahua Moitra, RJD MP Manoj Jha, and activist Yogendra Yadav, have argued that the directive violates Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, and 326 of the Constitution. They contend it also contravenes the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The Court’s direction now puts the onus on the ECI to explain its stand if it chooses not to consider Aadhaar, voter ID, or ration cards as acceptable proof ~ documents already deeply embedded in the administrative machinery. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 10 JULY Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed deep disquiet over the harassment of residents of Jai Hind camp in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, most of them Bengali-speaking, by the authorities, including the disruption of power and water supply. Miss Banerjee, in a post on social media, wrote: “Their water supply was reportedly cut on orders from the BJP-led government. Electricity meters were confiscated and power was abruptly cut the day before yesterday. Residents also claim Delhi Police, backed by RAF personnel, blocked private water tankers they had arranged and paid for. A forced eviction is currently underway despite the matter being sub-judice following another transgression last December by the Delhi police. How can we claim to be a democratic republic if the basic rights to shelter, water, electricity are being trampled upon?” “There are over 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal who are earning their livelihood with dignity. We cannot say the same for the BJP-ruled states, where Bengali-speaking people are being branded as infiltrators,” Miss Banerjee wrote, highlighting the disturbing trend of Bengalispeaking individuals facing targeted persecution in various states. “Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi. These individuals are as much citizens of India as anyone else, regardless of what language they speak,” she wrote. The Jai Hind camp in Vasant Kunj is home to mainly Bengali-speaking migrants from Cooch Behar in north Bengal, who make a living as domestic workers and sanitation workers. The migrant workers community in Delhi, the chief minister pointed out, had played a significant role in building the national capital. “Having failed in their attempts to deprive Bengalis in West Bengal, BJP is now exporting their BanglaBirodhi agenda to other parts of the country in a strategic and systemic manner. Disturbing reports have emerged from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh, where Bengali-speaking individuals are facing targeted persecution. And now, this pattern of hostility has reached even the national capital,” Miss Banerjee wrote.