New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to examine a PIL seeking a judicial probe into the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh castigated the petitioners for seeking a retired judge to monitor probe into the Pahalgam attack and said retired judges were not experts.
"In this crucial time, each and every citizen of the country has joined hands to fight terror. Do you want to demoralise the security forces by filing this kind of PIL. Don’t bring this kind of issue in judicial domain," the bench said.
Petitioners Fathesh Kumar Saahu and others were consequently asked to withdraw the PIL.
The top court asked the petitioners to realise the sensitivity of the issue and not make any prayer in court which demoralised the forces.
"You are asking retired Supreme Court judge to investigate. They are not experts in investigation but can only adjudicate and decide an issue. Don't ask us to pass an order. Go wherever you want to go. Better you withdraw," the bench told one of the petitioners.
The PIL sought a direction to the Centre and J-K administration to ensure the safety of tourists.
Terrorists on April 22 opened fire in Baisaran, a popular tourist spot in the upper reaches of Pahalgam in Anantnag district, killing 26 people, mostly holidayers from other states -- an incident that has spiked India-Pakistan tensions, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the killers would be pursued "to the ends of the earth."
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Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
