WEDNESDAY 19 AUGUST, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard Tejaswin Shankar | AFP NO KHEL RATNA, PRUNED LIST FOR NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS ‘HORMUZ US TERRITORY’ TRUMP RULES OUT TALKS WITH IRAN US President Donald Trump on Tuesday posted a map on his Truth Social platform showing the Strait of Hormuz as “New US Territory”. PAGE 9 The 2025 National Sports Awards will not have a Khel Ratna as the sports ministry on Tuesday came up with a pruned list after revaluation HEARTBREAK FOR SHOOTER MEHULI A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 As many as 24 names were recommended for Arjuna Awards by the selection panel more than six months ago but the ministry struck out seven names. Prominent among them was shooter Mehuli Ghosh, the 2024 Paris Olympian and former World Championships medallist. The 10m air rifle shooter from Bengal expressed shock on her exclusion | P11 Expert panel today on police excess I-T heat on 394 SC to announce committee to examine violence; protest hijacked by anti-socials, say cops Bihar govt transfers SPs of Siwan, Bhojpur S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will constitute a high-powered committee to examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters on July 20 in Delhi. A bench of CJI Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said an order constituting the committee, comprising retired judges, a former DGP an ex-CBI director , and others, will be passed on Wednesday after getting suggestions from political parties on additional members to be included. The court said it will direct that video footage and CCTV recordings of the violence during the July 20 Parliament march be handed over to the panel for examination. The matter relates to allegations of excessive force used by Delhi Police during the protest at Jantar Mantar. During the hearing, CJI Kant said the committee can submit interim reports on urgent issues instead of waiting for a final report. The bench also indicated that states can submit a list of FIRs involving only students/ protesters. The court had sought the list of FIRs so File photograph of police action on protesters in Delhi on July 20 | EXPRESS Committee to comprise eminent persons. We are considering former senior police/CBI officers among its members ... — Supreme Court bench led by CJI Surya Kant that it can consider invoking Article 142 to quash them, while cases involving those with serious criminal antecedents can be dealt with separately It asked all parties to suggest . priority issues and terms of reference of the panel. The bench also pointed out that the allegations concerning sexual assault, molestation and online harassment of women and other vulnerable persons will also be examined. The court said constitutional ques- tions concerning facial recognition technology surveillance, , allegations of sexual assault and online harassment of women will ultimately be decided by the court itself, and not by the committee. It will then fix a date for further hearing while the committee begins its work. For its part, the Delhi Police strongly defended the use of force during the Parliament protest on July 20, telling the court that the agitation was hi- Marching orders were issued for SPs of Siwan and Bhojpur districts in Bihar over police action during their stint. While Siwan SP Puran Jha has been kept in waiting at the state police headquarters, Bhojpur SP Raj is now SP of Rohtas district. It was Jha under whose command an AK-47 rifle was used during a student protest in Siwan on July 25, while the encounter of activist Bharat Tiwari in Bhojpur sparked uproar and Raj’s transfer | P8 jacked by “anti-social elements”. In an affidavit filed by DCP Sachin Sharma of New Delhi district, police said the protest “led to a breakdown of law and order in which 240 personnel were injured”. The response justified the use of standard lathis, facialrecognition cameras, and plainclothes spotters, while denying use of nail-fitted batons. The affidavit was filed in response to pleas alleging excessive use of force against protesters. JNU can admit students using ‘deprivation points’: HC U D AYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to continue admitting students using “deprivation points”, the additional marks awarded to candidates based on the geographical location of their previous schooling. A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, while hearing a plea filed by JNU against a single judge’s order restraining the varsity from admitting students under the policy, said admissions would be subject to the outcome of the petition pending before the single judge. The division bench observed that the policy of awarding deprivation points has been in vogue at JNU since 1974 and that the single judge’s order had brought the entire admission process to a halt. “ T h e u n ive r s i t y s h a l l carry on with the admission process as per the provisions in the e-prospectus, including the provisions which are under challenge before the single judge. However, any admission hence made will be subject to the outcome of the writ petition,” the bench said. CONTINUED ON P4 entities sending money abroad D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE income tax department has launched a nationwide campaign against suspicious outward foreign remittances, focusing on shell companies, persons behind them, and professionals associated with them. It has identified 394 entities that transferred large amounts outside India over the past three years, including 117 entities located in states along India’s land borders. It has also identified 36 professionals for scrutiny . The tax department said on Tuesday that it has uncovered a nationwide network of entities engaged in remitting funds abroad during a search operation targeting a group of fictitious charitable trusts involved in providing accommodation entries against bogus donations and contributions. Preliminary ground verification found that many of such entities had either filed no income-tax returns at all or filed returns reporting very small turnovers. “The turnovers had no apparent correlation with the large amounts of money being remitted abroad,” it said, adding that the transactions did not appear to match the stated purposes of the remittances, including payments for freight, software imports and consulting services. It was also found that some of these entities were not operating from the addresses declared by them. The tax department is also looking into the role of a small group of professionals, including chartered accountants, who issued Form 15CB, which is a CA’s certificate on the taxability of a foreign remittance. A former Enforcement Directorate official told TMS that suspicious foreign remittances are already under the ED’s lens, particularly those involving cash purchases of real estate abroad. According to the official, such transactions are sometimes carried out in the names of drivers and domestic workers to circumvent the Reserve Bank of India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme, under which individuals are permitted to remit up to $250,000 a year. The ED had earlier detected a similar modus operandi in cases involving under-invoicing. WATERED DOWN FOR a decade, the senior Indian men’s hockey side haven’t lost to Pakistan. 19 matches, 17 wins and two draws. The dominance has been near total. And matches have spanned multiple events: Asian Games, Asian Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, Commonwealth Games and FIH events. Forget the hype that’s already been visible on Border point The tax department has identified certain entities located in districts along India’s land borders. They transferred significant amounts of money abroad within the past three years. Many of them have not filed tax returns People sit on a partially submerged platform as water level of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers rises in Prayagraj on Tuesday | PTI In a bid to reduce dependence on imports, the defence ministry has notified the sixth indigenisation list of 405 items with an estimated business potential of `3K cr | P7 L-G revamps District Development Committees A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR Taranjit Singh Sandhu has approved a proposal to revise and reconstitute the Apex Committee and District Development Committees (DDCs) across the National Capital Territory of Delhi, partly changing the framework put in place on November 15, 1999. The changes update the twotier governance system following the reorganisation of Delhi into 13 revenue districts. The number of DDCs has been increased from nine to 13, while departmental designations have also been updated to improve coordination between agencies. The principal secretary of PWD is now a permanent member of the Apex Committee. The PWD is the main agency responsible for major roads, flyovers and public infrastructure works in Delhi. Its inclusion is intended to address a gap in the earlier struc- Reduce silos The District Development Committees (DDC) system is intended to decentralise decision-making, empower local field authorities and reduce silos between government agencies. ture by bringing project execution, coordination between departments and field-level planning into high-level policy reviews. The reconstituted Apex Com- mittee, chaired by the chief minister, will include all cabinet ministers, chairpersons of all 13 DDCs, the chief secretary , the chairman of the MCD’s standing committee, and administrative heads of key departments and agencies. These include finance, urban development, planning, general administration, MCD, NDMC and Delhi Jal Board. The DDA vice chairman has also been made a regular member. The secretary (revenue)-cum-divisional commissioner will serve as Member-Secretary . Harmanpreet & Co prepared for high-stakes Pak clash @ Bengaluru As part of the drive, the I-T department is examining the role of CAs who issued Form 15CB certificates. The I-T department said CAs are required to properly examine the underlying transactions and relevant facts before certifying remittances INDIGENISATION LIST GETS DEFENCE MINISTRY APPROVAL HOCKEY WORLD CUP S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N CAs under the radar TV screens over the last few days. Thanks to the difference in the skill levels between the two nations, the gap is embarrassingly yawning. But it’s time to forget all of that and treat the 90 minutes at the Wagener Stadium on Wednesday as a standalone event where history, form and recent meetings have no bearing. But this is exactly the kind of situation that India will have trained for in the lead-up to the LAST FIVE MATCHES 2026 Pro League: Ind bt Pak 7-1 2026 Pro League: Ind bt Pak 4-3 2024 Asian Champions Trophy: Ind bt Pak 2-1 2023 Asian Games: Ind bt Pak 10-2 2023 Asian Champions Trophy: Ind bt Pak 4-0 World Cup. When they were reduced to 10 men at the Olympics quarterfinal against England, the players could have easily been rattled. Instead, they knew what to do because they had prepared for that scenario. Similarly, Paddy Upton, the side’s mental conditioning guru, will have war-gamed this exact scenario. Play a match against Pakistan at the World Cup knowing only a win will seal qualification. As long as India don’t go away from the basics of the sport, this is a game they will back themselves to win 95 times out of 100. Their penalty corner battery is worldclass and it’s currently purring with Harmanpreet Singh finding some form in this bash. Satyendra Jain arrested in DJB corruption case N I T I N R A W AT @ New Delhi DELHI government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Tuesday arrested former AAP minister Satyendar Kumar Jain, ex-Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO Udit Prakash Rai and four others in connection with alleged irregularities in the tendering process for sewage treatment plants (STPs). The other accused ar rested are Ankit Srivastava, former contractual consultant to the DJB; Nagendra Yadav, proprietor of AN Enterprises; Raja Kumar Kurra, owner of Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd; and Pankaj Verma, proprietor of Srijanhar. The case was registered on May 11, 2024, after a complaint was filed by the Directorate of Vigilance, alleging irregularities, manipulation of tender conditions and criminal conspiracy in the tendering process for the upgradation of DJB sewage treatment plants. The bureau found that the tendering process for the treatment plants contained restrictive technical specifications and conditions favouring a particular technology provider, Euroteck, thereby limiting competition and giving undue advantage to the private entity , Joint Commissioner of Police (ACB) Vikramjit Singh said. The investigation also found that the proposed pilot study was not conducted, restrictive conditions relating to the technology and media to be used were included, essential parameters of treated effluent were excluded, and technical specifications were changed. These allegedly had financial implications for the government exchequer. Private persons were allegedly in touch with certain public servants and intermediaries to manipulate the tender process. CONTINUED ON P4 CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION PIL on death penalty by lethal injection rejected any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck IN a significant judgment, the till he is dead. Supreme Court on Tuesday reThe bench, however, did not jected a PIL seeking removal of treat the dismissal as permathe present mode of execution nently foreclosing the constituof death row convicts by hang- tional question. It clarified that ing from the statute. scientific and medical de“We are not persuaded velopments could alter that a case has been the factual foundation made out for reference on which the earlier of the decision of the judgment proceeded. three-judge bench in “Constitutional inDeen Dayal Upadhyay terpretation is organic case to a larger bench and must remain refor reconsideration of sponsive both to the the constitutional va- Any such exercise evolution of constituwould lie within lidity of Section 354(5) tional opinion and to of the CrPC/Section the domain of the the advances in scienExecutive and the 393(5) of the BNSS,” tific knowledge,” the Legislature and said a two-judge bench may be undertaken bench said. headed by justices Malhotra argued as a policy Vikram Nath and Santhat 49 of 50 states in Supreme Court deep Mehta. the USA have adopted The court dismissed death by lethal injecthe petition filed by lawyer Ri- tion. “The lethal injection is shi Malhotra, who sought a ju- quick, humane and decent, as dicial direction to the govern- opposed to hanging, which is ment to adopt the use of lethal cruel, barbaric,” he argued. injection instead of hanging as The Centre had, in its affidathe mode of execution in death vit filed last year, submitted penalty cases. that hanging is far safer and Section 354(5) says that when quicker than injections. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi