The Evening Wrap: Delhi Lt. Governor grants sanction to prosecute Arundhati Roy under UAPA

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena has sanctioned the prosecution of novelist Arundhati Roy and former Professor of International Law in Central University of Kashmir Sheikh Showkat Hussain, for their alleged statements at an event in 2010 under the Section 13 of UAPA on June 14, according to officials from the Raj Niwas. The FIR against Roy and Hussain was registered following the orders of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, they added. The two had allegedly made provocative speeches at a conference organised under the banner of “Azadi — The Only Way” in 2010 at LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi. The issues discussed and spoken about at the conference propagated the “separation of Kashmir from India”. Sayed Ali Shah Geelani, a Kashmiri separatist leader, and Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, a Delhi University lecturer, the two other accused in the case have died during the proceedings of the case. In October 2023, the L-G had granted sanction to prosecute them under section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under different sections of the Indian Penal Code 124-A (provisions for Sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputation, assertions, prejudicial to national integration), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, 505 (statements conducing of public mischief). The FIR in the matter was registered on a complaint made by Sushil Pandit on October 28, 2010. Supreme Court notice to National Testing Agency, Centre on pleas seeking probe NEET 2024 The Supreme Court on June 14 asked the National Testing Agency and the Centre to respond to pleas seeking a probe by a committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge or an investigation agency into allegations of question paper leak and discrepancies in the undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024. Petitioners appearing before a Vacation Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta urged the “imminent need for a CBI investigation”. “Can a CBI investigation be ordered ex parte today? Is that your submission? We are not rejecting your relief, but let them file their response,” Justice Nath addressed the lawyers appearing for a clutch of petitioners. One of the petitions, represented by advocate Charu Mathur, said there was a growing demand, even within the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Junior Doctors Network, for a CBI probe into the “record number of students scoring perfect scores”. The petition represented by Mathur highlighted that the Opposition and other leaders of the country have demanded a probe into the NEET results. “This clearly shows there has been illegality and arbitrariness in the evaluations and results of the examination which need to be taken cognisance of and probe needs to be carried out,” petitioners Aarsh Samir Vyas and others pointed out. They alleged irregularities like students receiving different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets; unprecedented inflation of cut-off and average marks resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720; six of these toppers were from the same exam centre in Haryana; students having scored 718 and 719 marks, which is “statistically questionable”; no disclosure of method/criteria adopted for grant of compensatory marks for loss of time, etc. Issuing formal notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which holds NEET, and the Centre, the court asked them to file their replies in two weeks. The petitions were scheduled for hearing on July 8, along with several others filed earlier. A slew of petitions have been filed in the apex court on the NEET-UG exam, including the award of grace marks. With burgeoning litigation and public furore about the exam, Justice Nath’s Bench, in an order on June 13, recorded NTA’s decision to conduct a re-test for 1563 candidates who were given grace marks. “We did not direct the NTA… NTA itself decided to hold the re-exam. We said in the order that it was the right way to do things,” Justice Nath corrected a counsel who happened to submit that the NTA was acting on the court’s direction on June 13. The NTA has also separately approached the apex court to transfer petitions pending in various High Courts to the Supreme Court. The Bench issued notice in NTA’s transfer petitions. Meanwhile, during the hearing, the top court stood firm by its stand against changing the counselling date from July 6. A lawyer wanted it to be shifted to July 9, a day after the apex court hearing on July 8. “No… that (to change the counselling date) has already been considered and dismissed,” Justice Nath told the lawyer. The NEET (UG) examination, which is under a cloud, was conducted by the NTA on May 5 at 4750 centres in 571 cities (including 14 cities abroad) for more than 24 lakh candidates. Congress questions PM’s silence on NEET controversy, pointing to busted rackets in Bihar, Gujarat The Congress on Friday stepped up its attack on the Union government over irregularities in conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical programmes by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the matter. The Opposition party said that only a forensic probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court could protect the future of lakhs of young students. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the Modi-led government has started “covering up the NEET scam” through Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Testing Agency (NTA). “If the paper was not leaked in NEET then -- why were 13 accused arrested in Bihar due to paper leak? Did the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police not expose the payment of ₹30 lakh to ₹50 lakh to the education mafia and organised gangs involved in the racket in exchange for papers?” Kharge asked in a post on X. “Has NEET-UG cheating racket not been busted in Godhra, Gujarat? In which three people are involved including a person running a coaching centre, a teacher and another person and according to Gujarat Police, transactions of more than ₹12 crore have come to light between the accused?” the Congress chief added. If there was no paper leak in NEET, as the government had claimed, then why were these arrests made, Kharge asked. “What conclusion is drawn from this? Was the Modi government trying to fool the people of the country earlier or now? The Modi government has crushed the aspirations of 24 lakh youth,” he said. The 24 lakh NEET aspirants worked hard day and night for one lakh medical seats, he noted. “Out of these 1 lakh seats, around 55,000 are in government colleges where seats are reserved for SC, ST, OBC, EWS categories. This time the Modi government has misused the NTA and has massively rigged the marks and ranks, due to which the cut-off for reserved seats has also increased,” Kharge alleged. He alleged that “a game of grace marks, paper leaks and rigging was played to deprive meritorious students from getting government admission at concessional rates”. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that “NEET under this regime is more like CHEAT -- Central Hyped Entrance Admission Test”, but also pointed out that the NEET-UG “paper scandal” is not unique. “Uttar Pradesh has witnessed more than 40 paper leaks under BJP rule and Gujarat has emerged as the paper leak capital, from where leaks are orchestrated across the country. Madhya Pradesh is of course well known for the gigantic Vyapam scandal,” he said in a post on X. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accused the new BJP government of attacking the dreams of the youth soon after taking oath. “The arrogant response of the education minister on the irregularities in the NEET exam results completely ignores the cries of 24 lakh students and their parents. Does the education minister not see the facts available in the public domain? Does the government also consider the police actions in Bihar and Gujarat and the rackets busted as false? Is it also a lie that 67 toppers got full marks? The question is, whom does the government want to save in the system by ignoring lakhs of youth and their parents?” Vadra asked, in a post on X. Addressing a press conference on the issue at party headquarters, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera claimed that the “NEET scam is Vyapam 2.0”. “PM Modi cannot always remain a mute spectator. Why is he silent when the future of 24 lakh youngsters is at stake?” he asked. Karnataka High Court halts arrest or detention of Yediyurappa, tells him to appear before CID on June 17 In a relief to former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, the High Court of Karnataka directed the BJP veteran to appear before the investigating officer on June 17 while restraining the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from either arresting or detaining him in the case of allegedly sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl at his residence in Dollars Colony, Bengaluru in February. On June 14, Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the interim order while hearing two separate petitions filed by Yediyurappa, who had questioned the legality of the First Information Report (FIR) registered in March by the girl’s mother, and had also sought anticipatory bail after a sessions court issued an arrest warrant on June 13 based on a request by the CID. The court noted that Yediyurappa did appear before the CID, cooperated in the investigation, and gave his voice samples for assisting the investigation. However, Yediyurappa did not appear on June 12 in response to a summons, but wrote to the CID on June 11 stating that he would appear on June 17 due to some prior engagements in New Delhi. Noticing that Yediyurappa’s counsel undertook that he would voluntarily appear on June 17, as per the assurance given in the letter, the court said that it “cannot jump to the conclusion that a case is made out for arrest and detention, or for custodial interrogation of Yediyurappa”, who happens to be a former CM and in the late evening of his life, perhaps with ailments natural to that age. Advertisers, media organisations push back on self-certification rules for ads Media bodies — such as print, radio and broadcast players — and their ad agencies, have urged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to defer the implementation deadline for a “self-certification” for all advertising. The requirement was put in place by the I&B Ministry in response to a Supreme Court order on May 7 in the Indian Medical Association’s case against Patanjali, where the court found that the ayurvedic conglomerate was endangering people’s health by printing misleading claims on evidence-based medicine and its own products. In representations to the Ministry reviewed by The Hindu, three industry bodies pushed back on the rapid implementation of the Supreme Court’s order. The order requires advertisers to reaffirm their ads’ compliance with the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994. The rules are currently on track to kick in on June 20. An industry body representing print media asked the Ministry to keep the requirements in “abeyance” until ambiguities in terms of the scope of advertisements, applicability for digital ads, advertorials, government ads, and other issues are sorted out. The body also requested that the requirements be limited to medical advertising. A body representing TV broadcasters and some of their streaming services said that the SC only imposed requirements on advertising firms, and not channels, whereas the MIB has sent advisories to channels and other media requiring them to “verify the authenticity” of self-certification furnished by advertisers. “[We] urge that the compliance period be extended by 45 days since the transition would involve practical challenges and would require cooperation by various stakeholders,” the letter said. A grouping of ad agencies, for its part, said that firms they service “may lose revenue due to the inability to launch campaigns on time,” and that the Broadcast Seva portal set up for permissions and clearances may have technical glitches that could hobble ads from being released on time. The scope has also been confounding some media houses — for instance, one source at a broadcast channel wondered, would a channel and its show be considered a product or a service meriting a self-certification? Would viewership claims — based on constantly fluctuating data released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), be considered claims? While the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has lined up meetings on a variety of subjects, there is no clarity on when advertisers and ad agencies will have an opportunity to discuss their reservations with the requirements. While associations had chalked out a plan to approach the Supreme Court to clarify these issues, The Hindu has learnt, they have chosen to wait longer to decide whether or not to file intervention applications before a vacation bench. In Brief: The mortal remains of 31 Indians, including 23 Malayalees, who died in the Kuwait fire tragedy were received at the Kochi international airport by the Central and State Ministers, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who paid tributes to the deceased. MoS for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, who accompanied the mortal remains on the IAF flight, and Tamil Nadu Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Gingee K.S. Masthan paid tributes to the deceased at the Cochin airport. After Kochi, the aircraft landed in Delhi in the evening. Meanwhile, the death toll of Indians has risen to 46 with one more person succumbing to injuries. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 14 June 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Delhi Lieutenant Governor grants sanction to prosecute Arundhati Roy under UAPA Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena has [sanctioned the prosecution of novelist Arundhati Roy]( and former Professor of International Law in Central University of Kashmir Sheikh Showkat Hussain, for their alleged statements at an event in 2010 under the Section 13 of UAPA on June 14, according to officials from the Raj Niwas.  The FIR against Roy and Hussain was registered following the orders of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, they added. The two had allegedly made provocative speeches at a conference organised under the banner of “Azadi — The Only Way” in 2010 at LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi. The issues discussed and spoken about at the conference propagated the “separation of Kashmir from India”. Sayed Ali Shah Geelani, a Kashmiri separatist leader, and Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, a Delhi University lecturer, the two other accused in the case have died during the proceedings of the case. In October 2023, the L-G had granted sanction to prosecute them under section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under different sections of the Indian Penal Code 124-A (provisions for Sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputation, assertions, prejudicial to national integration), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, 505 (statements conducing of public mischief).  The FIR in the matter was registered on a complaint made by Sushil Pandit on October 28, 2010. Supreme Court notice to National Testing Agency, Centre on pleas seeking probe NEET 2024 The Supreme Court on June 14 [asked the National Testing Agency and the Centre to respond to pleas]( seeking a probe by a committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge or an investigation agency into allegations of question paper leak and discrepancies in the undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024. Petitioners appearing before a Vacation Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta urged the “imminent need for a CBI investigation”. “Can a CBI investigation be ordered ex parte today? Is that your submission? We are not rejecting your relief, but let them file their response,” Justice Nath addressed the lawyers appearing for a clutch of petitioners. One of the petitions, represented by advocate Charu Mathur, said there was a growing demand, even within the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Junior Doctors Network, for a CBI probe into the “record number of students scoring perfect scores”. The petition represented by Mathur highlighted that the Opposition and other leaders of the country have demanded a probe into the NEET results. “This clearly shows there has been illegality and arbitrariness in the evaluations and results of the examination which need to be taken cognisance of and probe needs to be carried out,” petitioners Aarsh Samir Vyas and others pointed out. They alleged irregularities like students receiving different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets; unprecedented inflation of cut-off and average marks resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720; six of these toppers were from the same exam centre in Haryana; students having scored 718 and 719 marks, which is “statistically questionable”; no disclosure of method/criteria adopted for grant of compensatory marks for loss of time, etc. Issuing formal notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which holds NEET, and the Centre, the court asked them to file their replies in two weeks. The petitions were scheduled for hearing on July 8, along with several others filed earlier. A slew of petitions have been filed in the apex court on the NEET-UG exam, including the award of grace marks. With burgeoning litigation and public furore about the exam, Justice Nath’s Bench, in an order on June 13, recorded NTA’s decision to conduct a re-test for 1563 candidates who were given grace marks. “We did not direct the NTA… NTA itself decided to hold the re-exam. We said in the order that it was the right way to do things,” Justice Nath corrected a counsel who happened to submit that the NTA was acting on the court’s direction on June 13. The NTA has also separately approached the apex court to transfer petitions pending in various High Courts to the Supreme Court. The Bench issued notice in NTA’s transfer petitions. Meanwhile, during the hearing, the top court stood firm by its stand against changing the counselling date from July 6. A lawyer wanted it to be shifted to July 9, a day after the apex court hearing on July 8. “No… that (to change the counselling date) has already been considered and dismissed,” Justice Nath told the lawyer. The NEET (UG) examination, which is under a cloud, was conducted by the NTA on May 5 at 4750 centres in 571 cities (including 14 cities abroad) for more than 24 lakh candidates. Congress questions PM’s silence on NEET controversy, pointing to busted rackets in Bihar, Gujarat The Congress on Friday [stepped up its attack on the Union governmen]( over irregularities in conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical programmes by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the matter. The Opposition party said that only a forensic probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court could protect the future of lakhs of young students. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the Modi-led government has started “covering up the NEET scam” through Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Testing Agency (NTA). “If the paper was not leaked in NEET then -- why were 13 accused arrested in Bihar due to paper leak? Did the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police not expose the payment of ₹30 lakh to ₹50 lakh to the education mafia and organised gangs involved in the racket in exchange for papers?” Kharge asked in a post on X. “Has NEET-UG cheating racket not been busted in Godhra, Gujarat? In which three people are involved including a person running a coaching centre, a teacher and another person and according to Gujarat Police, transactions of more than ₹12 crore have come to light between the accused?” the Congress chief added. If there was no paper leak in NEET, as the government had claimed, then why were these arrests made, Kharge asked. “What conclusion is drawn from this? Was the Modi government trying to fool the people of the country earlier or now? The Modi government has crushed the aspirations of 24 lakh youth,” he said. The 24 lakh NEET aspirants worked hard day and night for one lakh medical seats, he noted. “Out of these 1 lakh seats, around 55,000 are in government colleges where seats are reserved for SC, ST, OBC, EWS categories. This time the Modi government has misused the NTA and has massively rigged the marks and ranks, due to which the cut-off for reserved seats has also increased,” Kharge alleged. He alleged that “a game of grace marks, paper leaks and rigging was played to deprive meritorious students from getting government admission at concessional rates”. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that “NEET under this regime is more like CHEAT -- Central Hyped Entrance Admission Test”, but also pointed out that the NEET-UG “paper scandal” is not unique. “Uttar Pradesh has witnessed more than 40 paper leaks under BJP rule and Gujarat has emerged as the paper leak capital, from where leaks are orchestrated across the country. Madhya Pradesh is of course well known for the gigantic Vyapam scandal,” he said in a post on X. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accused the new BJP government of attacking the dreams of the youth soon after taking oath. “The arrogant response of the education minister on the irregularities in the NEET exam results completely ignores the cries of 24 lakh students and their parents. Does the education minister not see the facts available in the public domain? Does the government also consider the police actions in Bihar and Gujarat and the rackets busted as false? Is it also a lie that 67 toppers got full marks? The question is, whom does the government want to save in the system by ignoring lakhs of youth and their parents?” Vadra asked, in a post on X. Addressing a press conference on the issue at party headquarters, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera claimed that the “NEET scam is Vyapam 2.0”. “PM Modi cannot always remain a mute spectator. Why is he silent when the future of 24 lakh youngsters is at stake?” he asked. Karnataka High Court halts arrest or detention of Yediyurappa, tells him to appear before CID on June 17 In a relief to former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, the High Court of Karnataka directed the BJP veteran to appear before the investigating officer on June 17 while [restraining the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from either arresting or detaining him]( in the case of allegedly sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl at his residence in Dollars Colony, Bengaluru in February. On June 14, Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the interim order while hearing two separate petitions filed by Yediyurappa, who had questioned the legality of the First Information Report (FIR) registered in March by the girl’s mother, and had also sought anticipatory bail after a sessions court issued an arrest warrant on June 13 based on a request by the CID. The court noted that Yediyurappa did appear before the CID, cooperated in the investigation, and gave his voice samples for assisting the investigation. However, Yediyurappa did not appear on June 12 in response to a summons, but wrote to the CID on June 11 stating that he would appear on June 17 due to some prior engagements in New Delhi. Noticing that Yediyurappa’s counsel undertook that he would voluntarily appear on June 17, as per the assurance given in the letter, the court said that it “cannot jump to the conclusion that a case is made out for arrest and detention, or for custodial interrogation of Yediyurappa”, who happens to be a former CM and in the late evening of his life, perhaps with ailments natural to that age. Advertisers, media organisations push back on self-certification rules for ads Media bodies — such as print, radio and broadcast players — and their ad agencies, have [urged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to defer the implementation deadline for a “self-certification”]( for all advertising. The requirement was put in place by the I&B Ministry in response to a Supreme Court order on May 7 in the Indian Medical Association’s case against Patanjali, where the court found that the ayurvedic conglomerate was endangering people’s health by printing misleading claims on evidence-based medicine and its own products. In representations to the Ministry reviewed by The Hindu, three industry bodies pushed back on the rapid implementation of the Supreme Court’s order. The order requires advertisers to reaffirm their ads’ compliance with the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994. The rules are currently on track to kick in on June 20. An industry body representing print media asked the Ministry to keep the requirements in “abeyance” until ambiguities in terms of the scope of advertisements, applicability for digital ads, advertorials, government ads, and other issues are sorted out. The body also requested that the requirements be limited to medical advertising. A body representing TV broadcasters and some of their streaming services said that the SC only imposed requirements on advertising firms, and not channels, whereas the MIB has sent advisories to channels and other media requiring them to “verify the authenticity” of self-certification furnished by advertisers. “[We] urge that the compliance period be extended by 45 days since the transition would involve practical challenges and would require cooperation by various stakeholders,” the letter said. A grouping of ad agencies, for its part, said that firms they service “may lose revenue due to the inability to launch campaigns on time,” and that the Broadcast Seva portal set up for permissions and clearances may have technical glitches that could hobble ads from being released on time. The scope has also been confounding some media houses — for instance, one source at a broadcast channel wondered, would a channel and its show be considered a product or a service meriting a self-certification? Would viewership claims — based on constantly fluctuating data released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), be considered claims? While the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has lined up meetings on a variety of subjects, there is no clarity on when advertisers and ad agencies will have an opportunity to discuss their reservations with the requirements. While associations had chalked out a plan to approach the Supreme Court to clarify these issues, The Hindu has learnt, they have chosen to wait longer to decide whether or not to file intervention applications before a vacation bench. In Brief: The mortal remains of 31 Indians, including 23 Malayalees, who died in the Kuwait fire tragedy were [received at the Kochi international airport]( by the Central and State Ministers, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who paid tributes to the deceased. MoS for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, who accompanied the mortal remains on the IAF flight, and Tamil Nadu Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Gingee K.S. Masthan paid tributes to the deceased at the Cochin airport. After Kochi, the aircraft landed in Delhi in the evening. Meanwhile, the death toll of Indians has risen to 46 with one more person succumbing to injuries. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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