The Ideas Page: The marital rape exception in criminal law is a colonial relic. It needs to go 11 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2025 JOURNAlISM of COURAGE NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES ₹7.00 (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) 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 1,386-KM RoAD PRoJECT To HALVE TRAVEL TIME 4 years of delay, short 87-km stretch derails Rs 1-lakh-crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Project scrapped in March 2023, re-awarded to same Pune firm months later Dheeraj Mishra Delhi R A JAST h A N Existing NH-48 DELHI-MUMBAI ExPREsswAY g UJA R AT U T TA R PRADESh Dausa Project cost Kota KARvAD - JUJUwA Sohna THREE SMALL stretches in Gujarat adding up to just 87 km and awarded to a Pune contractor have ended up derailing the massive 1,386-km Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project being built at a cost of Rs 1.04 lakh crore, The Indian Express has learnt. Ratlam Length: 35 km ₹821 cr M A D h yA PRADESh Surat THE 87-KM sTRETCH Mumbai ₹1,228 cr Project cost Vadodara New Delhi, December 17 JUJUwA - GANDEvA Length: 27 km Total spent ₹59.56 cr 4.85% completed Total spent ₹179 cr 21.75% completed TALsARI - KARvAD Project cost ₹1,560 cr Length: 25 km Total spent ₹565 cr 36.23% completed n Most packages within Gujarat are targeted for completion between March and June 2026 The Pune contractor, Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd (RSIIL), was first awarded all these three stretches in 2021. Two of these were scrapped in March 2023 due to delays, only to be re-awarded to the same company in November 2023 after it bid the lowest. At the end of almost four years now, less than 20 per cent of the 87 km has been completed, raising red flags in the MinistryofRoadTransportand Highways. And frustrated at the slow progress, the NHAI is now considering issuing noticestoRSIIL,thatmayevenresult in the termination of the contract. When contacted, Navjeet Gadhoke, Director, RSIIL, attributed the delay to “nonprovision of land by NHAI”. NHAI officials, however, blamed non-performance by RSIIL and contractual disputes and litigations for adversely affecting the pace of execution. The Expressway, which passesthroughDelhi,Haryana, »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2 HASINA’S SoN SAJEEb WAzED JoY ‘Threat to India very real, Yunus trying to bring Islamists to power via rigged poll’ bAN oN ENTRY oF NoN-bS VI CARS KICKS IN ToDAY Air toxic, Delhi govt makes 50% work from home a must Rs 10,000 to be given to verified construction workers affected by GRAP rules Drishti Jain & Devansh Mittal New Delhi, December 17 THE GOVERNMENT of Delhi will provide one-time assistance of Rs 10,000 each to constructionworkershitbyrestrictions imposed on building activities under Stage 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)tocombatairpollution, Labour Minister Kapil Mishra announced on Wednesday. Mishra also directed that fromThursday,allgovernment and private institutions in Delhimustmandatorilyswitch to ‘work from home’ for 50 per cent of their employees. The decisions are part of a Nikhila Henry ExPREss exclusive Hyderabad, December 17 New Delhi, December 17 IN FIRST remarks on the announcement of elections in Bangladesh next February and the ban that rules out participation of Awami League, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son and advisor of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,saidtheinterimgovernment in Dhaka, headed by Muhammad Yunus, was attemptingtoappointanIslamicregime. Healsowarnedthatthesecurity situationinBangladeshposeda heightened threat to India. Fifty-four-year-old Wazed, who lives intheUS, madethese remarks in an email interview with TheIndianExpress on the day Delhi summoned Dhaka’s High Commissioner to convey India’s “strong concerns” over the deteriorating security situation in Bangladesh and activ- Happening today Sajeeb Wazed Joy is son and advisor of ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina ities of extremist elements threatening the Indian High Commission there. These are excerpts from the interview with Wazed: You and your mother Sheikh Hasina are in exile. Begum Khaleda Zia is critically ill and her son Tarique has not returned to Bangladesh. Could this be the end of the two most powerful dynasties in Bangladesh politics? I cannot speak for the Zia family, but my mother did not »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2 POLITICs pAGE 5 lINDIA AND THE UAE will begin a joint military exercise to enhance interoperability and foster defence cooperation. Exercise Desert Cyclone will be held until December 30. TRACK THIS AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPREss.COM pM MOdI IN OMAN, TO SIGN TrAdE dEAL TOdAy ExPLAINED SC suggestions As Delhi moved to takesteps, the Supreme Court called fora long-term planinstead of short-term measures.It called fora plan todo away with toll plazas from Octoberto January2026. rELATEd rEpOrT, pAGE 3 series of steps announced by the Delhi government in response to the alarming decline inairqualityintheCapitalsince the beginning of November. OnTuesday,itannounceda ban on the entry into Delhi of private vehicles that are registered outside the Capital and are not compliant with the »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2 Bondi shooter came to Hyderabad for nikah in 2001, with son later ‘I speak to my mother (Sheikh Hasina) regularly on the phone. I have been to Delhi once and plan to go again’ Ritu Sarin E. The Capital’s air quality has been dropping since the beginning of November. GAJENDRA YADAV BONDI BEACH shooter Sajid Akram brought his Europeanorigin wife to Hyderabad in 2001 fora nikahceremony, and his son Naveed Akram — a coaccused in the terror attack — around 2004-05 to introduce him to his parents, The Indian Express has learnt based on conversations with investigators who have questioned close In Conversation With The J&K Chief Minister Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in conversation with The Indian Express National Opinion Editor Vandita Mishra at the Express Adda in New Delhi on Wednesday. RENUKA PURI relatives. After 15 people were killed in the mass shooting that occurred during a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, law enforcement agencies identified the gunmen as Sajid (50) and his son Naveed (24). While the formerleftforAustraliain1998, the latter was born there. “Sajid’s family had to be questioned because weneeded to know whether they had any inkling about the attack. They Stand-up comic, poet, CHARGESHEET FILED, TRIAL bEGINS DECEMbER 22 storyteller Zakir Khan Zubeen was made to go to sea, not is guest at Adda today enough done to save him: Police Sukrita baruah Heena Khandelwal Guwahati, December 17 ZAKIR KHAN dons many hats — stand-up comedian, writer, poet, lyricist and actor — and has emerged as one of the most recognisable voices of contemporaryIndianstorytelling.Over the last decade, he has built a loyal following through a deeply personal brand of humour that blends romance, heartbreak, family, ambition and quiet resilience. Most recently, in August 2025, he becamethefirstIndiancomedian to headline a full-length Hindi stand-up show at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York. FROM ALLEGEDLY encouragingZubeenGargtoventureinto the sea while drunk to not doing enough to save him — the chargesheet submitted last week in connection with the death of the Assamese superstarinSingaporeonSeptember 19 details why the state government believes murder charges should be invoked against the accused, The Indian Express has learnt. This is in line with what Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said more thanonce –thatthesinger’sdeathwasnot an accident but a murder. Zubeen was in Singapore as a cultural brand ambassador Mumbai, December 17 Zakir Khan »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2 Zubeen died on September 19 for the North East India Festival. Before the festival began, he went for a yacht outing, reportedly organised by members of the Assam Association Singapore, and lost consciousness while swimming. He was declared dead at Singapore General Hospital. The death certificate issued by Singapore authorities stated that the cause of death was drown- ing, while the Assam Police found that he was intoxicated at the time. Police have charged four persons with murder: festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Zubeen’smanager Siddharth Sharma, and co-musicians Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta. His cousin and Assam Police Service officer Sandipan Garg has been charged with culpable homicide. Mahanta was in Singapore for the festival while the other four were on the yacht when the incident happened. It is learnt that Zubeen’s manager Sharma has been accused of “causing the state of intoxication” which impaired his coordination and reflexes cooperated. We have not found anything suspicious so far,” a Telangana intelligence officer who questioned them told The Indian Express. “They seemed shocked to know he (Sajid) could do something like this. They immediately told us all they knew about his visits to Hyderabad,” the officer said. Sajid, an Indian passport holder, moved to Australia in »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY THE wORLD pAGE 14 MUNIr MAy vISIT wAShINGTON TO dISCUSS TrUMp’S GAzA fOrCE »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2 l BOOK BY ASHOK TANDON, A MEMBER OF VAJPAYEE’S PMO, SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON THE GOINGS-ON WITHIN THE RULING COALITION AND THE OPPOSITION When NDA considered govt minus Vajpayee, and BJP suggested he be President Vikas Pathak for five years once fresh elections were ordered. Ashok Tandon, a member WHEN ATAL Bihari Vajpayee’s of Vajpayee’s PMO as in-charge 13-month government fell by ofmediarelations,writesabout one vote in April 1999, there this little-known anecdote of were murmurs in the NDA that 1999 in his book Atal Sansmathe alliance should try to stake ran, which was released on fresh claim with the support of Tuesday. some new parties after replacThe argument was that “if ing Vajpayee. the United Front government However, the (which preceded the PAGE 1 move was stoneNDA’s)couldreplace walledbyTrinamool H D Deve Gowda as Congress chief MaPrime Minister with mata Banerjee and MDMK I K Gujral, why could the NDA leader Vaiko, who also had the not do the same” to explore support of BJD chief Naveen forming an alternative governPatnaik. Vajpayee survived, ment, Tandon writes. andtheNDAreturnedtopower But Banerjee and Vaiko reNew Delhi, December 17 anchor A B Vajpayee being sworn in as PM for a third time on October 13, 1999, months after his government fell by one vote. ARCHIVE; Atal Sansmaran, published by Prabhat Prakashan, was released Tuesday jected the idea straightaway, sayingtherewouldbe“NoNDA governmentwithoutVajpayee”. Patnaikalsotookthesameline. Tandon says, “Mamata Banerjee and Vaiko could go to any extent to defend Vajpayee, be it at an NDA forum or a public rally — Mamata considered him a father figure and freely poured her heart out when she spoke with him.” As per Tandon, what remained unclear to those in the PMO was who was behind the campaign to replace Vajpayee. The senior journalist also writesaboutwhynoalternative government could be formed after the fall of the Vajpayee coalition,despitethecombined Opposition having the numbers. According to him, Congress president Sonia Gandhi tried, but felt betrayed by the Left, and hence refused to supportany‘thirdfront’parties. The “betrayal”, as per Tandon,wasthatGandhihadcome to know that even as CPI(M) leaderHarkishanSinghSurjeet encouraged her to stake claim to form the government after Vajpayee’s coalition fell, he goaded Samajwadi Party chief MulayamSinghYadavtosayhe would not support her as PM. Tandon cites from Gujral’s book Matters of Discretion to say that Surjeet wanted Jyoti BasutobePM.Gujralalsowrote that he had cautioned Gandhi on April 20, 1999, to not be “naive” and trust the Left, saying it would betray her at the last moment. In Tandon’s words, Surjeet shared with Gandhi a list of 288 MPs apparently ready to sup- New Delhi porttheCongress,askingherto stake claim. Accordingly, she met President K R Narayanan on April 21, 1999, and told him she had the support of 272 members, and more would join. The next day, Mulayam and the Left bloc’s RevolutionarySocialistPartyandForward Bloc vetoed the name of Gandhi, indicating their 28 MPs would not support the Congress if she was the PM. AccordingtoTandon,while Surjeet wanted Basu as PM, he also had a plan-B in case the West Bengal Chief Minister refused — President Narayanan, whosecandidaturewouldhave »CoNTINUED oN PAGE 2