21012025-TTB-01.qxd 1/21/2025 12:54 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 145 NO. 21 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 630 AID TRUCKS ENTERED GAZA ON DAY 1 OF TRUCE: GUTERRES WORLD /thetribunechd SET UP VIDEO FACILITY FOR YASIN’S TRIAL, SC TELLS HC J&K NCLT ORDERS LIQUIDATION OF GO FIRST BUSINESS EAM HOLDS TALKS WITH COUNTERPARTS FROM JAPAN, OZ BACK PAGE tuesday | 21 january 2025 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Republican leader promises to tax foreignnations to enrich Americans Says there will be only two genders, vows to take back Panama Canal Tech billionaires, foreign diplomats, CEOs attend inauguration in Capitol God saved me to make US great again: President Trump returns Washington, January 20 President Donald Trump pledged to rescue America from what he described as years of betrayal and decline in his inaugural address on Monday, prioritising a crackdown on illegal immigration and portraying himself as a national saviour chosen by God. “First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” he said. “All illegal entry will be immediately halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places they came from.” The speech echoed many of the themes he sounded at his first inauguration in 2017 when he spoke darkly of the “American carnage” of crime and job loss that, he said, had ravaged the country. Trump, 78, took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend” the US Constitution at the Capitol, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His Vice-President, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him. continued on page 8 edit: h-1b and tariffs WELCOME HOME: BIDEN Joe Biden greeted his successor Donald Trump at the White House on Monday with the message “welcome home”. When Biden was waiting for the arrival of Trump, he was asked if he had written a letter to Trump. He replied, “Yes.” PM MODI GREETS PREZ Greeting Donald Trump, PM Modi posted on X, “Congratulations my dear friend on your historic inauguration as the 47th President of the US! I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries, and to shape a better future for the world.” BIDEN PARDONS SIBLINGS Donald Trump takes the oath of office as the 47th US President in Washington on Monday. AP/PTI ❝ All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions of criminal aliens back to the places they came from. — Donald Trump, US PRESIDENT Outgoing President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned his siblings and their spouses, saying his family had been “subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics”. Not rarest of rare case: Court hands out Roy jail till death Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 20 Five months after the brutal rape and murder of a 31-yearold doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sent shockwaves across the nation, a court in Sealdah on Monday sentenced prime accused Sanjay Roy to imprisonment for the remainder of his life. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict and directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor. RG KAR CASE Dismayed, will file appeal: Victim’s parents The court rejected the demand for the death penalty saying it was not a “rarest of the rare” crime. “The CBI prayed for the death penalty. The defence lawyer prayed that a jail term be given… This crime does not fall under the rarest of the rare category,” Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das said. “The court must resist the temptation to bow to public pressure or emotional appeals and instead focus on delivering continued on page 8 edit: letdown for abhaya People hold a rally demanding justice during Sanjay Roy’s sentencing in the RG Kar rape-murder case in Kolkata on Monday. ANI In Kerala, woman given death for killing boyfriend Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 20 A court in Kerala on Monday sentenced a woman to death for poisoning her boyfriend in 2022. The 24-year-old convict, Greeshma, had sought leniency in sentencing by citing her academic achievements, lack of prior criminal history and the fact that she is her parents’ only daughter. In its verdict, the court observed that there was no need to consider the convict’s age and other circumstances over the gravity of the crime. DecideonRajoana plea byMarch18: TopcourttoCentre U’khand clears UCC rules, eyes R-Day rollout Satya Prakash New Delhi, January 20 Ten months after the Uttarakhand Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code Bill mandating compulsory registration of marriages and live-in relationships, the state Cabinet today approved the rules needed to implement the law. After a meeting, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the date for implementation of the law would be announced soon. President Droupadi Murmu had granted assent to the Bill on February 13 last year. Tribune News Service Army personnel near the encounter site in Sopore on Monday. ANI Soldier killed in Sopore gunfight, search op on Adil Akhzer Srinagar, January 20 A soldier was killed in an overnight encounter in north Kashmir’s Sopore, officials said on Monday. The soldier, identified as Pangala Kartheek, was injured in the exchange of fire with terrorists in the Zaloora Gujjarpati area of Sopore and died as he was being evacuated, they said. Following a tip-off, the security forces busted a hideout of terrorists in the area. A cordon and search operation was launched by a joint team of the police and Army personnel. Srinagar-based 15 Corps said a suspicious activity was observed by the troops. “On being challenged, terrorists opened indiscriminate fire. Our troops effectively retaliated. The operation is still in progress,” the Army said. Police sources told The Tribune that one jawan was killed after he suffered injuries in a grenade attack during the encounter. Paying tributes to the slain soldier, the Army, in a post on X, said, “All ranks of the Chinar Corps salute the supreme sacrifice of braveheart Pangala Kartheek, who laid down his life in the line of duty.” The sources said it was believed that two militants were trapped in the area. New Delhi, January 20 As the mercy petition of Beant Singh assassination case convict Balwant Singh Rajoana continues to hang fire, the Supreme Court on Monday set March 18 deadline for the Centre to take a call on the contentious issue, failing which it would proceed to decide the matter on merits. “We are giving you the last chance… Either you decide or we will hear the case on merits,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice BR Gavai told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the Centre. “We will hear on merits on March 18… If you can decide by then… well and good,” said the Bench which also included Justice PK Mishra and Justice KV Vishwanath. “This has been going on since the time of CJI SA Bobde (since retired). Rajoana is on death row for 15 years and he is in prison for 29 years. He should be released now,” senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi told the Bench on behalf of Rajoana. Mehta said, “It’s a murder of a sitting CM.” continued on page 8 Tribune News Service TRAINING PROCESS ALMOST COMPLETE: CM ■ Training process for imple- menting UCC law is almost complete and the date for rollout will be announced soon, says CM Dhami ■ Uttarakhand looks to be the first state to implement a uniform personal law, making marriage, divorce and inheritance rights uniform across all religions ■ The law also entails compulsory registration of marriages and live-in relationships, besides ban on polygamy, polyandry, nikah halala, etc The BJP-ruled state is planning to roll out the UCC on Republic Day this year, becoming the first in the country to implement a uniform personal law. Dhami said the training process for the UCC implementation was almost com- plete and the Cabinet today discussed implementing the law as soon as possible. “After reviewing everything, we will soon announce its implementation date,” the CM said. The state government is said to be waiting for municipal elections — slated for Jan- uary 23 with results on January 25 — to conclude to make the rollout announcement. The rules approved by the Cabinet will lay down the procedures needed to implement key provisions of the Uttarakhand UCC law. Compulsory registration of marriages and all live-in relationships, ban on polygamy, polyandry, nikah halala and discriminatory marital practices across faiths, jail terms and fines for violations are part of the state’s UCC Act. The rules, sources say, will detail what documents live-in partners will need to submit continued on page 8 80 MBBS students under lens in ‘exam scam’ Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Rohtak, January 20 The answer sheets of around 80 MBBS students of private colleges have come under scrutiny as their names have been mentioned in a complaint alleging irregularities in the examination process. The complainant in the “exam scam”, a student, alleged that the answer sheets of both annual and supple- mentary MBBS course examination were rewritten after being illegally accessed from Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak. The answer sheets were smuggled outside the university to a particular location and rewritten by individuals other than the students concerned, the complainant alleged. Sources said a three-member committee constituted by the university for investiga- tion had sought the answer sheets of the suspected students from the record room. The committee, led by the Director of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal, would examine the answer sheets to verify the veracity of the allegations of rewriting answers after the examination. The number of students involved may increase as the inquiry progressed, the sources said. The complainant alleged that the scam masterminds would not only get the answer sheets rewritten, they would also ensure the students passed during the recheck. The higher officials at the university refused to comment saying an investigation was underway. The sources said the local office of the Anti-Corruption Bureau too was probing the matter at its level. Keeping it quiet and simple, Neeraj chose Kumarhatti resort as wedding venue Ambika Sharma Tribune News Service Solan, January 20 Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra took the world by surprise by announcing his wedding with tennis player and coach Himani Mor through a social media post yesterday. Nobody had the slightest inkling about his special day at a resort amid pristine pine forests in Himachal, barely 50 km from Chandigarh. There was complete secrecy around the wedding of the sports star, which would have otherwise attracted media attention from across the globe. There were total restrictions on carrying of mobile phones or other gadgets to the wedding venue, which could have leaked the much-soughtafter pictures of the sports sensation to the outside world. The staff of the resort near Gandhigram on the Kumarhatti-Nahan highway, who were sworn to secrecy, still remain tight-lipped about the wedding of the celebrated Haryana sportsman with a limited gathering of 70 wit- 70-ODD GUESTS, STAFF SWORN TO SECRECY ■ The wedding took place at a resort near Gandhigram on the Kumarhatti-Nahan highway, 50 km from Chandigarh, with 70-odd guests in attendance ■ There was complete secrecy around the wedding with restric- tions on carrying of mobile phones or other gadgets to the venue ■ A tennis player and coach, the bride, Himani Mor, hails from Larsauli village of Sonepat district, and is doing Master’s in the US nessing the ceremony. The wedding party had checked in on January 14 and the marriage was solemnised the next day. While a majority of the guests left on January 16, Chopra was among the last to leave on the morning of January 17, confided the staff. The closely guarded ceremony took place at the salubrious settings of the hill resort, which has a scant population in its vicinity. Since the area has earned the reputation for high-end destination weddings, it did not surprise the villagers when they saw the resort being decorated in green and pastel settings. The fact that information about his marriage, considering his high-profile stature, remained under wraps is most astonishing. Apart from the 70-odd guests, the resort staff remain the lone witness to the celebrated duo walking down the aisle on the perfectly manicured lawns. continued on page 8 c m y b The wedding of Neeraj Chopra with Himani Mor being held in an HP resort. The victim, Sharon Raj, was a native of Parassala in Thiruvananthapuram. According to the prosecution, Greeshma took Raj to her house on October 14, 2022, and poisoned him with an ayurvedic tonic laced with paraquat, a herbicide. Raj, 23, succumbed to multiple organ failure at a hospital 11 days later. The prosecution told the court that Greeshma, then 22, plotted the murder after Raj refused to end their relationship even continued on page 8 26-year-old student from Hyderabad shot dead in US HYDERABAD: A 26-year-old stu- dent from Telangana was allegedly shot dead in the US by unidentified persons, his family members said here on Monday. K Ravi Teja, who completed MS and was looking for a job, was living in Connecticut. The family received information about his death from a relative. However, the circumstances leading to his death were unclear, the family members said, adding the incident “occurred” in Washington DC. — PTI Punjab farmers put off today’s march to Capital PATIALA: The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha on Monday postponed the January 21 march by a 101member jatha from the Shambhu border to Delhi to press the government to accept farmers’ demands. The move came two days after the government offered to hold talks with representatives of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha who have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders. INSIDE Atul Subhash case: SC gives custody of minor son to wife NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the wife of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash, who died by suicide last month allegedly due to harassment by his wife and in-laws, to have the custody of their fouryear-old son. After interacting with the minor through videoconferencing, a Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma refused to hand over the child to Atul’s mother, who had sought his custody. INSIDE