The Evening Wrap: India thrashes Sri Lanka in Women’s Asia Cup final to clinch seventh title

An all-round India crushed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final match of the Women's Asia Cup 2022, clinching their seventh title. The day was extremely memorable for India as tight bowling from bowlers, Renuka Singh (3/5) in particular, restricted Sri Lanka to 65/9 in 20 overs. The target of 66 was chased down with very little inconvenience and it was Smriti Mandhana who top-scored with an unbeaten 51* off 25 balls. Chasing 66, India was off to a solid start as they managed to score nearly half of their target before spinner Inoka Ranaweera dismissed Shafali Verma (5 off 7 balls) after the batter was stumped by wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani. India was at 32/1, with Mandhana having scored unbeaten 26 runs in just 14 balls with two elegant fours and two sixes. Jemimah Rodrigues was the next batter on the crease. She was bowled by Kavisha Dilhari for just two after her off stump was dislodged while she attempted to come forward to slog the ball. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was next up on the crease. At the end of the power-play in six overs, India was at 42/2, with Mandhana (28*) and Kaur (6*). Mandhana hit two fours on the offside, taking India to the 50-run mark. The duo took India to a comprehensive eight-wicket win, finishing at 71/2 in 8.3 overs. Mandhana, unbeaten at 51 off 31 balls, finished the match with a huge six. Kaur was unbeaten at 11 on the other end. Earlier, fiery power-play spell from pacer Renuka Singh and top-notch performance by spinners Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad helped India restrict Sri Lanka to 65/9 in their 20 overs in the final of the Women's Asia Cup final at Sylhet on Saturday. Harmanpreet Kaur lauded her bowlers and the fielding unit after the team’s triumphant campaign. “We should credit our bowlers. Our fielding unit was good from ball one and we discussed that we should not give away easy runs. You have to read the wicket and accordingly place the fielders in right positions,” Harmanpreet said at the presentation ceremony. Supreme Court suspends Bombay High Court order acquitting G.N. Saibaba, others in Maoist-links case The Supreme Court, in a special hearing on Saturday, suspended a Bombay High Court decision to discharge G.N. Saibaba, a 55-year-old wheelchair-bound academic, in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged Maoist links. A Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Bela Trivedi remarked that generally “as far as terrorist activities are concerned, the brain plays a very important role… A brain for such activities is very dangerous”. The oral comment was triggered when Saibaba's lawyer, senior advocate R. Basant, referred to the State’s allegation that his client was the "brain" behind the alleged Maoist activities and his fellow accused were mere “foot soldiers”. Basant said Saibaba was 90% physically disabled and had led a respectable life as a professor in the Delhi University. A request to transfer Saibaba to house arrest in order to “preserve his health” failed for now. He will continue to remain in Nagpur Central Jail. “These requests are coming very frequently from naxals, especially urban naxals… ‘allow me house arrest’... In UAPA offences, accused have to be kept confined. You don't need to go somewhere to stab someone, you don't need to go somewhere to shoot someone. House arrest is never an option,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for Maharashtra, intervened. Basant suggested the State could post guards outside his house, cut the telephone lines. “My Lords, I am making a humanitarian request on medical grounds. I am willing to abide by any condition… He does not have any criminal antecedents, not even a prosecution. Besides being 90% disabled, he has multiple other ailments,” he pleaded to the court. “Isolation in prison is the only condition for UAPA offenders,” Mehta said flatly. He noted that the Bombay High Court had rejected bail to Saibaba on medical grounds in 2020. On Friday, the High Court set aside the lower court judgment and ordered the release of Saibaba and other accused persons. The High Court had found that sanction for Saibaba’s prosecution was non-existent at the time the court took cognisance of the case and even while charges were framed against him. But the relief from the High Court proved short-lived for the disabled man. Maharashtra had rushed to the Supreme Court within hours of the High Court order on Friday. Even the case records in Marathi were translated to English overnight. On Saturday, the Bench found, after giving "anxious thoughts" about the facts and circumstances, that the case was a "fit" one to suspend the High Court's order of discharge. The apex court listed the State's appeal for final disposal on December 8. People’s faith in Constitutional institutions get strengthened if justice is seen to be delivered, says Modi People’s faith in Constitutional institutions gets strengthened when justice is seen to be delivered, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, adding that delay in getting justice is one of the major challenges faced by the people of the country. Modi stressed that new laws should be written in a clear manner and in regional languages to bring in “ease of justice,” so that even the poor can easily understand them and legal language doesn’t become a barrier for citizens. He also urged the State governments to adopt a humane approach towards undertrial prisoners. The PM made these remarks while inaugurating the All India Conference of Law Ministers and Law Secretaries via video conference. Modi said that people should neither feel the absence of government nor its pressure and that is his government, in the last eight years, has scrapped more than 1,500 obsolete and irrelevant laws that were a relic of British rule and reduced as many as 32,000 compliances for the sake of “innovation and ease of living”. Modi stated that villages have been resorting alternative dispute resolution mechanism for a long time and it can be adopted at State level as well. Speaking about the importance of use of regional languages in the legal system, he said, “Obscurity of law creates complexity. If law is comprehensible to the common man, it will have a different impact”. He also stressed on the need for modern technology in legal system and underlined its role in delivering justice during the pandemic. SIT to investigate gang-rape charge against senior officials in Andaman and Nicobar A Special Investigation Team has been constituted to probe the allegation of a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands that she was gang-raped by officials there including a former Chief Secretary. The police registered a case earlier this month on the complaint filed by the woman alleging that she was sexually abused by Jitendra Narain, a 1990 batch IAS officer, and Labour Commissioner R.L. Rishi at the latter's official residence on two occasions. The Aberdeen police station registered the case and a Special Investigation Team headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police was formed to probe the serious allegation against Narain, who is at present posted as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation. The woman lodged the complaint with the police on August 21 in which she gave a detailed account of the alleged sexual attack on her twice — in April and May — and requested for preserving the CCTV footage of the then chief secretary's residence for evidence. She has also requested a Test Identification Parade of the employees present at the residence of the official. The complainant has also recorded her statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before the chief metropolitan magistrate detailing the allegation. The woman claimed that she was in search of a job and was introduced to Rishi through a hotel owner who allegedly took her to the residence of Narain. At Narain's residence, the woman claimed, she was offered liquor which she refused. She claimed that they assured her of a government job but, subsequently, she was brutally sexually abused by the two men. Two weeks later, the woman alleged, she was called to the Chief Secretary's residence again and the assault was repeated. She said that instead of giving the promised government job, she was threatened with dire consequences if she revealed the matter to anyone. She has also filed a separate complaint with the police against a local journalist, who allegedly gave hints about her identity, and a police officer for leaking information about the case, officials said. Erroneous, suffers from serious methodological issues: Government on Global Hunger Index India's ranking at 107 in the Global Hunger Index is part of a consistent effort to taint the country's image as "a nation that does not fulfil the food security and nutritional requirements of its population”, the Centre said and added the index suffers from serious methodological issues and is "erroneous measure of hunger". The Women and Child Development Ministry, in a statement, said the matter was taken up with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) not to use such estimates based on FIES (Food Insecurity Experience Scale) survey module data in July 2022 as the statistical output of the same will not be based on merit. "Though an assurance was forthcoming that there will be further engagement on this issue, the publication of the Global Hunger Index report irrespective of such factual considerations is regrettable,” the ministry said. India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3%, being the highest in the world. The Centre said three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the government to ensure food security for the population, especially during the Covid pandemic, the government said. The government said it is evident such questions do not search for facts based on relevant information about the delivery of nutritional support and assurance of food security by the government. In Brief: Student found dead in IIT Kharagpur hostel room The partially decomposed body of a third year student of IIT Kharagpur was found in his hostel room after the authorities broke open the bolted door, an official of the premier Institute said. This is the second instance of death of an IIT student in a week. A 20-year old fifth year B.Tech student of IIT Guwahati died by suicide and his body was found hanging in his room on October 10. IIT Kharagpur registrar Tamal Nath said that the putrefying body of Fainaz Ahmed was found after door of his hostel room was forcibly opened on Friday as there was no communication from him for hours. Centre hikes windfall profit tax on export of diesel, ATF; raises tax on domestic crude oil The government hiked the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to ₹12 per litre and that on jet fuel exports to ₹3.50 a litre with effect from October 16. The levy on domestically produced crude oil too has been increased by ₹3,000 per tonne to ₹11,000. At the seventh fortnightly review, the government raised the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to ₹12 per litre from ₹6.5 a litre, and brought back the levy on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) exports at ₹3.50 per litre, from nil, Union Finance Ministry said in a notification. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 15 OCTOBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( [Privacy Info]( Women’s Asia Cup final | All-round India thrashes Sri Lanka to clinch seventh title An all-round India [crushed Sri Lanka by eight wickets]( in the final match of the Women's Asia Cup 2022, clinching their seventh title. [Indian players celebrate after defeating Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2022 Women’s Asia Cup in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Photo: Twitter/@robbieuthappa ] The day was extremely memorable for India as tight bowling from bowlers, Renuka Singh (3/5) in particular, restricted Sri Lanka to 65/9 in 20 overs. The target of 66 was chased down with very little inconvenience and it was Smriti Mandhana who top-scored with an unbeaten 51* off 25 balls. Chasing 66, India was off to a solid start as they managed to score nearly half of their target before spinner Inoka Ranaweera dismissed Shafali Verma (5 off 7 balls) after the batter was stumped by wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani. India was at 32/1, with Mandhana having scored unbeaten 26 runs in just 14 balls with two elegant fours and two sixes. Jemimah Rodrigues was the next batter on the crease. She was bowled by Kavisha Dilhari for just two after her off stump was dislodged while she attempted to come forward to slog the ball. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was next up on the crease. At the end of the power-play in six overs, India was at 42/2, with Mandhana (28*) and Kaur (6*). Mandhana hit two fours on the offside, taking India to the 50-run mark. The duo took India to a comprehensive eight-wicket win, finishing at 71/2 in 8.3 overs. Mandhana, unbeaten at 51 off 31 balls, finished the match with a huge six. Kaur was unbeaten at 11 on the other end. Earlier, fiery power-play spell from pacer Renuka Singh and top-notch performance by spinners Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad helped India restrict Sri Lanka to 65/9 in their 20 overs in the final of the Women's Asia Cup final at Sylhet on Saturday. Harmanpreet Kaur lauded her bowlers and the fielding unit after the team’s triumphant campaign. “We should credit our bowlers. Our fielding unit was good from ball one and we discussed that we should not give away easy runs. You have to read the wicket and accordingly place the fielders in right positions,” Harmanpreet said at the presentation ceremony. Supreme Court suspends Bombay High Court order acquitting G.N. Saibaba, others in Maoist-links case The Supreme Court, in a special hearing on Saturday, [suspended a Bombay High Court decision to discharge G.N. Saibaba]( a 55-year-old wheelchair-bound academic, in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged Maoist links. A Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Bela Trivedi remarked that generally “as far as terrorist activities are concerned, the brain plays a very important role… A brain for such activities is very dangerous”. The oral comment was triggered when Saibaba's lawyer, senior advocate R. Basant, referred to the State’s allegation that his client was the "brain" behind the alleged Maoist activities and his fellow accused were mere “foot soldiers”. Basant said Saibaba was 90% physically disabled and had led a respectable life as a professor in the Delhi University. A request to transfer Saibaba to house arrest in order to “preserve his health” failed for now. He will continue to remain in Nagpur Central Jail. “These requests are coming very frequently from naxals, especially urban naxals… ‘allow me house arrest’... In UAPA offences, accused have to be kept confined. You don't need to go somewhere to stab someone, you don't need to go somewhere to shoot someone. House arrest is never an option,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for Maharashtra, intervened. Basant suggested the State could post guards outside his house, cut the telephone lines. “My Lords, I am making a humanitarian request on medical grounds. I am willing to abide by any condition… He does not have any criminal antecedents, not even a prosecution. Besides being 90% disabled, he has multiple other ailments,” he pleaded to the court. “Isolation in prison is the only condition for UAPA offenders,” Mehta said flatly. He noted that the Bombay High Court had rejected bail to Saibaba on medical grounds in 2020. On Friday, the High Court set aside the lower court judgment and ordered the release of Saibaba and other accused persons. The High Court had found that sanction for Saibaba’s prosecution was non-existent at the time the court took cognisance of the case and even while charges were framed against him. But the relief from the High Court proved short-lived for the disabled man. Maharashtra had rushed to the Supreme Court within hours of the High Court order on Friday. Even the case records in Marathi were translated to English overnight. On Saturday, the Bench found, after giving "anxious thoughts" about the facts and circumstances, that the case was a "fit" one to suspend the High Court's order of discharge. The apex court listed the State's appeal for final disposal on December 8. People’s faith in Constitutional institutions get strengthened if justice is seen to be delivered, says Modi People’s faith in Constitutional institutions gets [strengthened when justice is seen to be delivered]( Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, adding that delay in getting justice is one of the major challenges faced by the people of the country. [Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the inaugural session of All India Conference of Law Ministers and Secretaries, via video conferencing, in New Delhi on October 15, 2022.] Modi stressed that new laws should be written in a clear manner and in regional languages to bring in “ease of justice,” so that even the poor can easily understand them and legal language doesn’t become a barrier for citizens. He also urged the State governments to adopt a humane approach towards undertrial prisoners. The PM made these remarks while inaugurating the All India Conference of Law Ministers and Law Secretaries via video conference. Modi said that people should neither feel the absence of government nor its pressure and that is his government, in the last eight years, has scrapped more than 1,500 obsolete and irrelevant laws that were a relic of British rule and reduced as many as 32,000 compliances for the sake of “innovation and ease of living”. Modi stated that villages have been resorting alternative dispute resolution mechanism for a long time and it can be adopted at State level as well. Speaking about the importance of use of regional languages in the legal system, he said, “Obscurity of law creates complexity. If law is comprehensible to the common man, it will have a different impact”. He also stressed on the need for modern technology in legal system and underlined its role in delivering justice during the pandemic. SIT to investigate gang-rape charge against senior officials in Andaman and Nicobar A Special Investigation Team has been constituted to probe the [allegation of a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands]( that she was gang-raped by officials there including a former Chief Secretary. The police registered a case earlier this month on the complaint filed by the woman alleging that she was sexually abused by Jitendra Narain, a 1990 batch IAS officer, and Labour Commissioner R.L. Rishi at the latter's official residence on two occasions. The Aberdeen police station registered the case and a Special Investigation Team headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police was formed to probe the serious allegation against Narain, who is at present posted as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation. The woman lodged the complaint with the police on August 21 in which she gave a detailed account of the alleged sexual attack on her twice — in April and May — and requested for preserving the CCTV footage of the then chief secretary's residence for evidence. She has also requested a Test Identification Parade of the employees present at the residence of the official. The complainant has also recorded her statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before the chief metropolitan magistrate detailing the allegation. The woman claimed that she was in search of a job and was introduced to Rishi through a hotel owner who allegedly took her to the residence of Narain. At Narain's residence, the woman claimed, she was offered liquor which she refused. She claimed that they assured her of a government job but, subsequently, she was brutally sexually abused by the two men. Two weeks later, the woman alleged, she was called to the Chief Secretary's residence again and the assault was repeated. She said that instead of giving the promised government job, she was threatened with dire consequences if she revealed the matter to anyone. She has also filed a separate complaint with the police against a local journalist, who allegedly gave hints about her identity, and a police officer for leaking information about the case, officials said. Erroneous, suffers from serious methodological issues: Government on Global Hunger Index [India's ranking at 107 in the Global Hunger Index]( is part of a consistent effort to taint the country's image as "a nation that does not fulfil the food security and nutritional requirements of its population”, the Centre said and added the index suffers from serious methodological issues and is "erroneous measure of hunger". The Women and Child Development Ministry, in a statement, said the matter was taken up with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) not to use such estimates based on FIES (Food Insecurity Experience Scale) survey module data in July 2022 as the statistical output of the same will not be based on merit. "Though an assurance was forthcoming that there will be further engagement on this issue, the publication of the Global Hunger Index report irrespective of such factual considerations is regrettable,” the ministry said. India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3%, being the highest in the world. The Centre said three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the government to ensure food security for the population, especially during the Covid pandemic, the government said. The government said it is evident such questions do not search for facts based on relevant information about the delivery of nutritional support and assurance of food security by the government. In Brief: Student found dead in IIT Kharagpur hostel room The partially decomposed body of a third year student of IIT Kharagpur [was found in his hostel room]( after the authorities broke open the bolted door, an official of the premier Institute said. This is the second instance of death of an IIT student in a week. A 20-year old fifth year B.Tech student of IIT Guwahati died by suicide and his body was found hanging in his room on October 10. IIT Kharagpur registrar Tamal Nath said that the putrefying body of Fainaz Ahmed was found after door of his hostel room was forcibly opened on Friday as there was no communication from him for hours. Centre hikes windfall profit tax on export of diesel, ATF; raises tax on domestic crude oil The government [hiked the windfall profit tax]( on the export of diesel to ₹12 per litre and that on jet fuel exports to ₹3.50 a litre with effect from October 16. The levy on domestically produced crude oil too has been increased by ₹3,000 per tonne to ₹11,000. At the seventh fortnightly review, the government raised the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to ₹12 per litre from ₹6.5 a litre, and brought back the levy on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) exports at ₹3.50 per litre, from nil, Union Finance Ministry said in a notification. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today’s Top Picks [[JEE (Advanced) topper selects IISc-Bengaluru for B.Tech course instead of IITs] JEE (Advanced) topper selects IISc-Bengaluru for B.Tech course instead of IITs]( [[Watch | Make friends for life at this Thiruvananthapuram tea shop] Watch | Make friends for life at this Thiruvananthapuram tea shop]( [[Booker Prize 2022: the six shortlists] Booker Prize 2022: the six shortlists]( [[Menstruating women forced into isolation in this Perambalur village] Menstruating women forced into isolation in this Perambalur village]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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