villupuram l sunday l may 12, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l city EDITION Solar storm hits earth, creating light shows in North Hemisphere The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11 at 9.23 pm and 7.44 am, US EDT, according to NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory Britain skies witnessed Northern Lights Starlink satellites under pressure The greenish hues, also known as the Northern Lights were prominently on display in Britain on Friday night. The Northern Lights are expected to continue into the weekend and possibly next week. People posted pictures of the Northern Lights on social media captured on their cellphones. The Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in Himalayas reported a crimson glow in Ladakh ■ The US NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions. The flares could damage high-voltage transmission lines of power grids and satellites, disrupting navigation and communication services ■ Xinhua reported that communications and navigations in most of China will be impacted in the weekend, adding the country has issued a red alert 11-yr cycle Heightened activity in sun is witnessed as it approaches its peak CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Modi to stay PM till 2029: Shah sc order quoted Citing marriage with survivor in Pocso case, HC acquits youth E x p r e s s N e w s S e r vi c e @ Hyderabad R S I VA K UM A R @ Chennai The Madras High Court has set aside the conviction and 20 years imprisonment awarded to a youth by a trial court for sexual assault of a minor girl in 2021. The court took into account their subsequent marriage, after the girl attained 18 years of age, for ordering the acquittal of the accused youth in the Pocso case. Justice M Nirmal Kumar passed the orders while allowing an appeal filed by the youth who was convicted by the Special Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act Cases in Tiruvannamalai district in 2023 for penetrative sexual assault of the 16-year-old girl who was studying Class XI at the time of the incident. The judge cited Supreme Court’s orders and observations in two cases which stated that courts cannot shut their eyes to ground reality and disturb the happy family life of appellant as well as the victim-girl in Pocso cases. “The conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant is set aside. He is acquitted of all charges,” the HC order said. Saying that, with the acquittal, the ‘stigma of criminal case and conviction’ no longer existed, Justice Nirmal Kumar said the case cannot be quoted or referred to for disqualification or other adverse considerations against the appellant or the victim in their future endeavours since they are seeking employment in private and government sector establishments. The appellant was pursuing a degree course when Covid pandemic intervened. During the nationwide lockdown during Covid, he stayed at a relative’s house located near the victim girl’s residence. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a road show at Mehrauli in New Delhi on Saturday | Shekhar Yadav Modi playing the game of 1 nation, 1 leader: Kejriwal Claims Mamata, Uddhav, Stalin, Tejashwi could end up in jail as well A n u p V e r m a @ New Delhi Out on a 21-day interim bail ordered by the Supreme Court, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday was scathing in his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP accusing them of , orchestrating a perilous game of ‘one nation, one leader.’ Kejriwal also sought to stir the leadership pot within the BJP, speculating on Modi’s successor as the prime minister. The chief minister alleged that his incarceration was a “Modi move to quell opposition voices as AAP was a potential threat to the BJP”. “Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray and Tejashwi Yadav could face similar suppression if Modi secures victory in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said. In his first press conference after coming out of Tihar jail, the AAP chief cited instances of what he said was the diminishing stature of veteran BJP leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. “Ours is a very small party, it has governments in just two states; it is a 10-year-old party. The prime minister left no stone unturned in crushing it,” he claimed. “Our top leaders have been jailed. If top leaders of big parties go to jail, the An Infinity of Promise WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 PAGES Continued on p7 BJP sees red as Left tries to grab Begusarai, de-saffronise it its candidate, Tanveer Hasan, who polled 2 lakh votes, splitting the anti-BJP votes. Begusarai, once known as the Leningrad “Giriraj is facing the ire of voters. He has of Bihar, dramatically took a right turn in done nothing for the welfare of the people the past two Lok Sabha elections, riding on in the past five years. All he did was to raise the back of the Modi wave. This time, how- the banner of ‘Hindutva’ without missing ever, the Communist Party of India (CPI) is any opportunity to hurl abuses on Musworking overtime to wrest its stronghold lims. Will the people of Begusarai vote for from the BJP . him for this?” asks Randhir Kumar Singh, Unlike 2019, it’s going to be a direct con- a resident of Rosera. test between the BJP and the Opposition Randhir, who owns a departmental store bloc. The BJP has fielded Union in the sub-divisional town, says minister and its fire brand that even those belonging to leader Giriraj Singh (71) as its Giriraj Singh’s caste (Bhumicandidate again. He is locked in hars) are not happy with him. a tough fight with CPI’s AwadRandhir’s anger against the hesh Kumar Rai (72), two-time BJP nominee is corroborated MLA from Bachhwada assemby Vijay Kumar Singh, a retired bly constituency in Begusarai government employee of Bedistrict. Rai is the joint candidate of the Op- gusarai town. “Giriraj mainly is relying on position INDIA bloc comprising the RJD, ‘Modi magic’ to win the election this time the Congress, and three Left parties. again,” he remarks. The candidature of Rai, a Yadav by caste The ground situation is different from (OBC), shows the Left party’s intent to tap that of 2019 because there is a united the RJD’s solid MY (Muslim-Yadav) sup- Opposition candidate. However, this in itport base. In the 2019 elecself may not be enough to tion, Giriraj had won the defeat Giriraj. The CPI seat by defeating CPI candidate’s chances candidate Kanhaiya will greatly dependent Kumar (now with the on how well he is Congress) by a margin a b l e t o wo o t h e of over 4 lakh votes. Muslim-Yadav vote This time, the CPI’s base of the RJD. On optimism stems from the other hand, BJP two factors -- anti-insupporters believe cumbency against Prime Minister Giriraj and the OpNarendra Modi’s position’s joint fight blitzkrieg will against the BJP. In overshadow 2019, the RJD, a all other isAwadhesh Kumar Rai major regionsues and and Giriraj Singh (R) al party had , Giriraj will also fielded Illustration: Mandar Pardikar win. R A M A SH A N K A R @ Patna party is seen as finished,” said Kejriwal. “He (PM) thought that AAP would be finished, but this is not a party but a thought, the more they (BJP) try to finish it, the more would it grow.” The AAP leader also alleged a ‘war of succession’ involving UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Modi. “It is Yogi’s turn. If Modi wins the election, he will change the UP CM within two months,” he claimed. “Many people ask me: ‘Who is the PM candidate of the INDIA bloc’? I ask the BJP: who will be your PM? Modi ji turns 75 in September next year. Modi ji made a rule that whoever is aged 75 years will retire. So, I want to ask the BJP, who is your PM candidate after next year?” said Kejriwal. Interview Asserting that Narendra Modi will be the prime minister till 2029, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday clarified that there was no confusion in the party in this regard. He was responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s barb on the informal 75-year age cap in the BJP to hold electoral office. Speaking at a press conference here, Shah asserted, “I want to tell this to Arvind Kejriwal and company and the INDIA bloc that you have nothing to be happy about Modiji turning 75. There is no such provision in the BJP’s constitution. Modi will complete this tenure and continue to lead the country in the future. There is no confusion in the BJP .” He alleged that the INDIA bloc leaders knew the NDA would cross 400 seats and had resorted to spreading misconceptions. Shah rubbished allegations that the BJP would scrap reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs. Despite full majority in Parliament in the last two terms, the BJP never initiated any steps as alleged by the Congress, Shah said. He added that the BJP priorities were the construction of the Ram Mandir, abrogation of Article 370, reservations for women, and continuing SC, ST and OBC quotas. Responding to recent comments by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shah asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India. shah says no change in quota policy Union home minister and BJP’s chief strategist Amit Shah alleges that Congress wants to snatch away SC/ST and OBC quotas and give them to Muslims, as they did in K’taka | P7 e x p r e ss r e a d ‘Savukku’ Shankar case: One more held Tiruchy: Acting on a complaint by Musiri DSP, a police team from Tiruchy arrested YouTuber Felix Gerald in New Delhi on Friday. Gerald is the second accused in the case filed against ‘Savukku’ Shankar | P4 Kharge’s turn to write to poll body P r e e t h a Nai r @ New Delhi The war of words between Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and the Election Commission (EC) continued on Saturday as the former shot off another letter in response to the poll body’s strong rebuttal on voter turnout data. In a post on X, Kharge said it was surprising how the EC responded to his “open letter” while ignoring other complaints. “The open letter is addressed to our alliance partners and not to the Commission. Surprisingly the EC wanted to , respond to this letter while ignoring several other complaints given directly to it,” Kharge wrote. Kharge also expressed his misgivings about the language of the letter by the poll body and said he will not press on the issue as the agency is under pressure. The Election Commission had responded to Kharge’s open letter with a stronglyworded missive. It accused him of “attempting to push a biased narrative under the guise of seeking clarifications”. The open letter had alleged that the “delay in the release of voter turnout data was an attempt to doctor the final results”.
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