CMYK Morning India Rs. 3 KOLKATA SATURDAY, 23 APRIL, 2022 PG-8, YEAR—8, ISSUE—330 (RNI NO.: WBENG / 2014 / 56803) Mamata Banerjee likely to share dais with Narendra Modi in Delhi MI News Service, Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may visit Delhi on Friday. According to sources, Mamata may also face Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. A conference of Supreme Court justices and High Court judges from different states is scheduled to be held in the capital on Saturday, April 30 next week. The conclave entitled 'Chief Ministers-Chief Justice Conference on Judiciary'. Nabanna said. Mamata can join the discussion. However, he may also meet the Prime Minister in Delhi. Because the Prime Minister himself will inaugurate the conference of judges. According to political experts, the Bengal Chief Minister may also hold a meeting with Prime Minister Modi. The conference of judges will be attended by the Chief Justice of the country and the Chief Justices of the High Courts of other states. Mamata's presence at the conference is also going to be quite 'significant'. A section of political observer believes that an 'indirect conflict' between the ruling party and the state has re- cently come to light with the West Bengal judiciary. In most recent cases, the judiciary has shifted its focus from the state police or the investigating agency to the central agency. In many cases, counter-suspensions have been imposed on those directives. Calcutta High Court Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay also lodged a complaint with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court NV Raman. The issue of suspension in particular was raised. In this context, political observers are expected to keep an eye on Mamata's presence at the Judges' Conference in Delhi. At the same time, Mamata and Modi may face each other for the first time after their recent victory in two by-elec- tions in the West Bengal. Trinamool has won a Lok Sabha seat defeating BJP in the by-elections by a huge margin. The BJP has also been defeated in the Assembly by-elections. It is alleged that the state BJP has started infighting after this. Although he was invited to the World Bengal Trade Conference organized by the state, Modi was not present. TMC delegation not allowed COVID-19: Delhi govt issues SoP for schools; thermal screening, face masks mandatory MI News Service, New Delhi: to enter at Jahangirpuri MI News Service, Kolkata: On the instructions of Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee, the women representatives of the party went to the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi and faced police obstruction. On Friday, a delegation of five women leaders led by Trinamool MP Kakli Ghosh Dastidar visited the area and got involved in a scuffle with the police. In the end, the Kaklis returned without going to the main scene of the C-block. However, Kakli said, "We went to the spot with the help of a local woman and children and talked to the people. I took notes. I also took pictures. " Led by Kakali, Trinamool MPs Shatabdi Roy, Aprupa Poddar, Sajda Ahmed and former MP Arpita Ghosh went to Continue PG 3 MI News Service, Kolkata: Primary and Upper Primary schools in West Bengal are finding it difficult to serve midday meal to students due to hike in prices of essential commodities, according to authorities of different schools in districts. The Bengal Price Hike Primary Teachers' Association has drawn the attention of the School Education Department to the issue and demanded the present midday meal allocation of Rs 4.97 for every student at primary level and Rs 7.45 for every student at upper primary level be raised so that the midday ❑ Continue PG 3 PIC: PRABIR BHATTACHARYA Karnataka students challenge hijab ban; return home without writing exam MI News Service, Udupi: Two pre-university college students from the Udupi area in the state, who had approached the Karnataka High Court challenging the ban on hijab, returned from the exam center as they were not allowed to write the exam wearing hijab. The two girls, namely Alia and Resham, arrived in an auto-rickshaw at the exam centre wearing hijab. Visuals of the incident depicted that they insisted that they should be allowed to write the exam wearing hijab but the college authorities citing the High Court order denied them entry. Subsequently, the girls returned home. Notably, this news comes in the backdrop of the hijab protests in Karnataka that took place in January-February this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district of the state alleged that they had been barred from attending classes. During the protests, some students claimed they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab. Stating that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam and freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions, a full bench of the Karnataka High Court on March 16 dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslim girls studying in pre-university colleges in Udupi seeking the right to wear hijabs in classrooms. The Court also upheld an order issued on February 5 by the state, which suggested that wearing hijabs can be restricted in government colleges where uniforms are prescribed and ruled that "prescription of a school uniform" is a "reasonable restriction" that is "Constitutionally permissible". UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv next week MI News Service, New Delhi: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that they will reopen their embassy in the Ukraine capital Kyiv next week. Addressing a press conference here, Johnson said, "The success of Ukraine President Zelenskyy and their people in resisting the Russian forces in Kyiv helps me to make this decision and I can announce that we will surely reopen the embassy in Kyiv next week." He further said, "We the United Kingdom will not watch passively as Putin carries onslaught in Ukraine." Johnson talked about India's democracy and said, "India is one of the world's oldest democratic countries and world's largest democracy, sticking together and confronting our shared anxieties Continue PG 3 ❑ SC initiates suo moto on developing guidelines in death penalty MI News Service, New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday initiated a suo moto case to develop guidelines to be followed by courts across the country, while considering matters which involve death penalty. A three-judge bench of Justices U.U. Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat, and P.S. Narasimha sought assistance from Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, and also issued a notice to the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). The bench indicated CMYK sure no student or staff with COVID symptoms enter the school premises, has been made mandatory at the main gate. Thermal screening too has been made compulsory at the main gate. Hand sanitization has also been made mandatory at school entrances, classrooms, labs and pub- Delhi Police wants ED to probe Jahangirpuri riots mastermind Ansar ❑ Mounted policemen on duty ride horses along the city road. Bengal schools face tough time to Serve Midday Meals With COVID cases rising in the national capital, the Delhi government on Friday issued new Standard Operating Procedure for schools. According to the SoP issued by the Directorate of Education, the deployment of school staff, who would make that it would lay down guidelines to be followed by courts across the country in connection with cases involving death sentences. The bench noted that convicts are at a stage where the litigation assistance is bare minimum. The Attorney General concurred with the bench that the system -- to deal with issues pertaining with death sentences -- needs to be institutionalised. ❑ Continue PG 3 lic places. The SoP also suggests that parents should not send their children to school if any family member shows COVID symptoms, and the teachers should seek information about the family members of students and whether they have COVID symptoms while taking takes attendance. The MI News Service New Delhi: Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana has written to Directorate of Enforcement(ED) seeking its intervention to probe the communal violence that erupted at Jahangirpuri in the national capital as possibly illegal money was used for rioting on 16 April. According to sources, the letter specifically mentions the name of the arrested accused and alleged mastermind of the violence, Ansar, requesting the ED to initiate a financial school administration has been asked to ensure the vaccination of the eligible students and staff members. The SoP also states that all school heads should ensure the facility of quarantine rooms in their institutions. Notably, 965 new COVID cases were reported in Delhi yesterday and a day be- fore that the number was 1,009. The active cases in the city have crossed the 3,000 mark. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 cases continue to rise as the country reported 2,451 fresh COVID-19 cases (71 cases higher than yesterday) with 54 fatalities on Friday. probe into the accused's illegal assets. Accused Ansar is suspected to have acquired huge properties at various places in the country through ill-gotten money. "If they lodge a PMLA case, a nationwide probe could be started against Ansar. All the properties bought by him and his family members will be examined. If these were bought with the help of proceeds of crime, the assets will be seized," official sources said. Continue PG 3 ❑