The editorial Page: Before rebuilding Delhi, a warning from Gurugram 12 WEDNESDAY, AuguST 26, 2026 JournAlisM of CourAGe lucKnow, lATE cITy, 22 PAgES ₹6.00 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 happening today lMinister of State for Exter- nal Affairs Pabitra Margherita will embark on a three-nation tour starting with Vietnam to deepen engagement in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as usual By EP uNNY WiLL Be VisitinG inDiA After 7 YeArs AMiD efforts to restore ties Xi likely to attend BRICS in Delhi next month with large delegation Beijing’s advance team arrives to prepare the ground for visit shubhajit roy New Delhi, August 25 ChiNeSePreSiDeNtXiJinping is likely to attend the summit of BriCS leaders in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, The Indian Express has learnt. he last visited india in october 2019,monthsbeforePLaincursions along the Line of actual Control in eastern Ladakh triggered a military standoff between the two countries. it is learnt that the Chinese sidehasconveyedtoNewDelhi that Xi is likely to come for the The BIg PICTure E. khargone violence trials: acquittals, dead ends and In Beijing, Doval and Wang failing evidence explained look to ‘make progress on boundary delimitation’ The steps taken Although troops are still massed along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, India and China have been taking a series of steps to restore ties that took a hit following Chinese incursions. These include direct flights, resumption of visas, easing of curbs on Chinese firms, revival of the pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. leaders’ summit. an advance team from China has arrived forthesecurityandprotocolarrangements to prepare for the President’s possible visit. »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 shubhajit roy New Delhi, August 25 nsa ajit doval with chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing, Tuesday. PTI NatioNaLSeCurityadvisor ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang yi, who are the special representatives of their countries on the boundary issue,heldtalksinBeijingtuesday and the indian embassy latersaidtheydiscussedwaysto “make progress on boundary delimitation”while“sustaining theongoingworkontransboundary cooperation”. Before his talks with Wang, Doval met Chinese Vice President han Zheng and China said it urged india to view and handle their relationship from a “strategic and long-term perspective” and “properly manage differences”. india, on its part, said Doval and han discussed ways to strengthen peace and tranquillity in the border areas and further improve bilateral relations. a long part of han’s career wasspentinShanghai,underXi Jinping, and he was CPC secretary of Shanghai during 20122017.heisconsideredamember ofthepowerfulShanghaiClique. »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 uttar pradesh YogI's YouTh ouTreaCh: 'WIll gIve 1 lakh govT joB leTTers In 6 monThs' Page 3 Introduce transparency in donation: SC to Banke Bihari temple authorities Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, August 25 Withahigh-poweredcommittee appointed by it expressing doubts over the handling of donations at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan, the Supreme Court on tuesday said the contributions of the devoteesmustgointotheshrine’sdonationboxesoronlinetreasury. “Lettherebenodoubts,and weaccordinglydirectthatevery penny of donation must come to the donation boxes or online temple treasury, and any impediment created by sewayats or anyone else shall be viewed very seriously,” a three-judge benchpresidedbyChiefJustice of india Surya Kant said. it also directed the temple’s managingcommittee“tointroduce any transparent mechanism for the temple treasury”. the bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, said this after perusing a status report furnished by the Committee, which was formed in its direction to look after temple management in august last year. the report referred to instances of devotees allegedly beingpreventedfromaccessing »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 16 houses and 29 shops demolished by administration in the aftermath 175 people arrested in initial police action hasina Fakhroo’s house built under PmaY (Urban) was demolished. AnAnd MohAn J the hold-up all acquitted oNJuLy27,aMadhyaPradesh Sessions Court acquitted 11 men accused in the 2022 Khargone ram Navami violence that left more than two dozen people, including Khargone Superintendent of Police Siddharth Choudhary, injured, and one dead. in the wake of the clashes, the administration razed 16 housesintheaffectedlocalities, Patna Protest Police use water cannons to disperse protesters marching towards raj Bhavan, demanding a rollback of a proposed two-tier format for BPsc teachers’ recruitment exam, in Patna, Tuesday. AnI rePorT, Page 9 School in Rajasthan village which rebuffed CJP shifts to single room, waits for upgrade New building will come up soon, Rs 12 lakh has been sanctioned: DEO Parul Kulshrestha Rampura-Kanwarpura (Jaipur), August 25 aN“uNSaFe”schoolbuilding, a shared space with cattle, a single-roomstructure,andnow the promise of a rs 18 lakh upgrade. Government Primary School,rampura-Kanwarpura,has learntavaluablelessoninmaths 24 injured, including the district SP Khargone, August 25 Tehelka’s former editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal. AnI FIlE »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 1 person killed Anand Mohan J Ananthakrishnan G Bombay high Court in Goa, which convicted and sentenced him for the rape of a womanjournalist,willbelisted for hearing on September 22. While overturning tejpal’s acquittal by a trial court and sentencinghim,thehighCourt had given him four weeks to surrender. Violence took place on ram navami, april 10, 2022 being recorded New Delhi, August 25 reJeCtiNG a request by tehelka magazine’s former editor-in-chief tarun tejpal who had sought exemption from surrender after being sentenced to 10 years in jail in a 2013 rape case, the Supreme Court tuesday directed him to turn himself in within two weeks. “the appellant shall surrender within two weeks and shall furnish the surrender certificate,”thesingle-judgebench of Justice alok aradhe said. the bench said if the surrender certificate is submitted on or before September 22, tejpal’s main appeal challenging the august 6 ruling of the Fouryearslater,notmuchheadway l 85 accused yet 65 FIRs 4 closed for want of evidence to be found 38 under investigation 20 at stage of evidence 3 trials completed, 23 cases awaiting Surrender in 2 weeks: Supreme Court rejects Tejpal’s exemption plea Inside the army’s Paralympic node Page 16 We are facing difficulty as names of accused generic without father’s name or address: Inspector supervising riot cases the cases HAnDeD 10 YeArs in JAiL for rAPe The Courage run express special The single-room structure on the outskirts of Jaipur from where the school now operates. PARul KulShRESThA the past few days: all it takes to multiply things is a few crosses. Within days of a Cockroach Janta Party protest putting the spotlight on this school that abutsthestatecapitalJaipur,18 students and their parents are hoping their wait for a building sinceanolderonewasdeclared unsafe a year ago may finally end. after cameras caught students attending classes with four cattle tied nearby, they were moved the next day into a roomloanedbyafellowvillager. Following a government directive restricting outsider entryintogovernmentschools, the two teachers on duty refuse access inside the room, or to talk to the media, on tuesday. thismorning,DhoriBairwa sent her two sons only at 9.30 amtotheschool,thoughclasses beginat8.itwasrainingandthe floor on which the students sit can get muddy. While Bairwa’s husband works as a helper at a store,sheworksasadailywager. thankful for the attention »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 forensic reports linking these to irregularities, and 65 cases were registered. then Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan vowed, “there is no place for rioters on the soil of Madhya Pradesh… they will not be released. Strictest action will be taken against them.” Four years later, the cases arecollapsingonebyone,orare stuck without headway, an investigation into court records by The Indian Express reveals. the only three riot cases to »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Yogi govt hands over Lucknow’s JPNIC to pvt firms on 30-yr lease SP chief Akhilesh slams the decision: ‘Is the BJP government a shopkeeper? express news service Lucknow, August 25 the uttar Pradesh Cabinet on tuesday gave its nod to hand over the Jayaprakash Narayan international Centre (JPNiC) in Lucknow to private firms, prompting criticism from the opposition Samajwadi Party. the proposal of the Lucknow Development authority (LDa) was approved at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister yogi adityanath. Speaking to mediapersons aftertheCabinetmeeting,state Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said Brindavan Bottlers Pvt Ltd and rockwood hotelsandresortsPvtLtdhave been given a 30-year lease to complete and operate the JPNiC, which will house a mu- seum,aswellascultural,sports and recreational facilities. according to Khanna, the LDa had received bids from three companies, with the highestbidmadebyBrindavan Bottlers Pvt Ltd and rockwood hotels and resorts Pvt Ltd. While the private company will run the Centre and will be paying the LDa, the LDa will have to pay rs 857.69 crore to the state government in 30 years since the government so farhasspentrs818croreonthe construction of the project. Soon after the decision became public, Samajwadi Party president akhilesh yadav slammed the BJP government for handing over the centre to the the private firm. in a post on X, the former chief minister »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 relaTed rePorTs, Page 3 l anaYa Bangar UnderWenT gender-aFFirming sUrgerY in march, saYs Bcci did noT resPond To her qUeries ‘Great day’: Mumbai trans player gets nod for women community cricket in Australia Devendra Pandey anaya, whose father Sanjay Bangar is a former india allrounder and was also the batForMer MuMBai under-19 ting coach of the men’s team, cricketer anaya Bangar, who earlierplayedage-groupcricket underwent a gender-affirming for Mumbai alongside testsurgery in March this year, has capped Sarfaraz Khan and his received clearance to play brother Musheer Khan. anaya said she wrote to the women’scommunitycricketin Board of Control for Cricket in australia. “it is a great day for me, es- india (BCCi) last year to check about eligibility pecially after knowcriteria for trans athing the fact that i can page 1 letes but has not replay cricket. there ceived a reply yet. was a stage when i in June this year, thought i would never play cricket again, but she reached out to Cricket austhanks to Cricket australia, it tralia. in its reply sent on July has given me another chance,” 20,Cricketaustraliatoldanaya anaya, now 25 years old, told that while she could start playing community cricket imThe Indian Express. Mumbai, August 25 anchor mediately, she would have to fulfil testosterone-related eligibilitycriteriatoqualifyfor‘elite Cricket’ like the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). Cricket australia’s ‘transgender and Gender Diverse Players in elite Cricket Policy’ requires a player’s serum testosterone to be below 10nmol/L(nanomolesperlitre) for at least 12 months to be eligible to play. in 2023, the international Cricket Council (iCC) banned transgender players from the elitewomen’sgameiftheyhave gone through male puberty. a top BCCi official told The Indian Express that the board has no policy yet on trans Former mumbai U-19 cricketer anaya Bangar. AnAyAbAngAR/InSTAgRAM women playing women’s cricket. “When it comes to the iCC, they have said no to it. BCCi is yet to decide what can be done in such cases. as this is the first time the board had come up with such a case, the board is yet to take a stand. especially on allowing them in domestic cricket,” the BCCi official said. responding to anaya’s letter, Cricket australia’s head of integrity, Jacqui Partridge, said: “until March 2027, you remain eligible to participate in Premier Cricket competitions in any State or territory of australia. as Premier Cricket is classified as Community CricketratherthaneliteCricket under the Policy, your participation in those competitions is not affected by this determination.” “your eligibility for elite Cricket from that date (March 2027) is conditional upon you providing a blood test upon your arrival in australia confirming that your serum testosterone concentration remains below 10 nmol/L and that you continue to satisfy the Policy’s eligibility requirements,” Partridge said. “i genuinely couldn’t believe that i’ll be able to play again. Because of Cricket australia and its progressive and inclusive policies, which focus on fairness and inclusion in women's sport for trans women, this is a huge milestone, not just for me, but for otherathleteslikemewhowant to try but aren’t doing so because they have to either choosethesportorchoosetransition,” anaya said. While she is still recovering from the gender affirming surgery, anaya said she was in the processoffindingaclubinaustralia to play for. in a social media post in Junelastyear,anayahadcalled for a discussion with BCCi and iCC representatives to discuss apolicyfortransathletes,based on data instead of “outdated perceptions”.inthepost,anaya »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Lucknow