The father of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, the National Security Guard commando killed while fighting terrorists during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, has said Tahawwur Rana’s long-awaited extradition to India was not a diplomatic success, but also “revenge” for the general public. Speaking to NDTV over the phone, K Unnikrishnan said Rana’s extradition does not provide closure and David Coleman Headley, key conspirator of the 2008 terror attack, needs to be brought back too.

Thirty-one-year-old Major Unnikrishnan led a team of 10 commandos to the iconic Taj Mahal hotel after it came under attack. The team of commandos came under heavy fire from the terrorists holed up in the hotel. Major Unnikrishnan also ensured the evacuation of his injured colleagues and chased the terrorists alone. He managed to corner the terrorists in the northern end of the hotel and was killed in the encounter. According to his colleagues, his last words were, “Don’t come up, I will handle them.”

The brave officer was awarded an Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration. “Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan displayed most conspicuous bravery besides camaraderie and leadership of the highest order and made the supreme sacrifice for the nation,” the citation read.

Sixteen years on, his elderly father’s words reflect the bravery his son showed that day. “Sandeep is not a victim of 26/11. He was a security personnel who did his duty well in the face of certain death. He was sure that he would not come back. If he did not do this in Mumbai, he would have done it somewhere else. Our main concern should be to prevent such an attack so that we can minimise the damage these people intend to do,” he said.

Asked if Rana’s extradition brings him some satisfaction, he replied, “Definitely it’s a success. For the general public, it’s not just a diplomatic success, it’s a revenge. We could get the culprit,” he said.

To a question on whether India’s success in getting Rana’s custody will provide closure to the families of the 166 victims killed in the attacks, Mr Unnikrishnan said, “It’s not a closure. We have to get Coleman Headley. These are all tools, they are working for money. The people worked at the behest of some agencies in our neighbourhood. But the brains behind it, we have not touched them yet, despite proving everything beyond doubt. But this is definitely an achievement, though delayed. And I hope everyone will be punished.”

A special plane bringing Rana back is likely to land in Delhi this afternoon. Thereafter, officers of the National Investigation Agency will question him.

Mr Unnikrishnan said he believes NIA would go through every detail. “This (Rana) is a learned man. NIA has all the information, they were just waiting for him. Let’s see what comes out of this.”

Tahawwur Rana is being brought to India after he exhausted his legal options in the US to challenge the extradition. The former Pakistan Army doctor provided logistic, financial and other assistance to David Headley — a key conspirator in the terror attack, according to the NIA chargesheet. He is charged under sections relating to criminal conspiracy, waging war against the government of India, murder and forgery and relevant sections under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs on all countries, barring China – a move that seemed nearly impossible just 24 hours ago. According to Trump, who had introduced the slew of tariffs to address the alleged trade imbalance with the US, over 75 countries had negotiated and not retaliated against him – which led to the pause. During the 90 days, a significantly reduced reciprocal tariff of just 10 per cent would be in effect, he said.

For China, however, Trump announced an immediate increase in tariffs on China to 125 per cent, up from the previously declared 104 per cent.

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the US and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“China wants to make a deal. They just don’t know how quite to go about it…President Xi Jinping is a proud man. They don’t know quite how to go about it, but they’ll figure it out,” he added.

Why did Trump hit a pause on tariffs?

For days, fellow Republicans and business executives had been insisting the US President to stop the tariffs, given the fear of a major trade war, triggering a global market meltdown, and raising concerns of a looming global recession. However, he stayed put, saying, “My policies will never change”.

By Wednesday, it had become clear that the campaign to convince Trump to go back on the tariffs would not change as they had come into effect.

However, a growing alarm inside the Treasury Department over the developments in the bond market was the only factor that made Trump hit a pause on his reciprocal tariff regime, reported CNN. According to the report, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised the concerns to Trump, while White House economic officials briefed him on the accelerating selloff in the US Treasury market.

As Trump addressed reporters after the announcement of the pause on tariffs – it indicated that the decision was more of an impulse-driven one rather than a mapped-out strategy.

“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. The bond market right now is beautiful. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy. We didn’t have access to lawyers, or it was just wrote up. We wrote it up from our hearts, right? It was written from the heart, and I think it was well written too, but it was written from the heart,” he said.

“I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line…They were getting yippie, you know, they were getting a little bit a little bit afraid. You have to be flexible,” he said.

US stocks surged

Wall Street stocks rocketed higher on Wednesday following Trump’s shock move to pause many new tariffs, lifting an equity market beaten down by days of losses amid rising recession worries. Within moments of the announcement, the Dow index surged ahead around 2,500 points along the way to a nearly eight-percent gain on the session. While, the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 12.2 percent to notch its best day in 24 years, and the S&P 500 surged 6.0 percent higher to 5,281.44 points.

Oil prices jumped more than four percent, while the dollar also strengthened.

India impact

Ever since Trump imposed a 26 per cent customised reciprocal tariff on Indian imports, the Indian markets have taken a plunge. However, with the 90-day pause, the stocks are likely to get a breather, with New Delhi getting more time to work on the deal with the US.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Wednesday said that reciprocal tariffs and discussions are ongoing between India and US Trade teams for an expeditious conclusion of a mutually beneficial multi-sectoral bilateral trade agreement.

“India and the United States are very strong partners when it comes to trade relations, economic relations, investment relations, commercial relations, and we hope that these relations will continue to foster and deepen. As far as trade issues are concerned, we are in negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement, and hopefully we will be able to address these issues and conclude this particular agreement expeditiously,” he said.

Weeks after an Allahabad High Court judge observed that grabbing breasts or snapping a pyjama string do not constitute rape or attempt to rape, his colleague has granted bail to a rape accused, noting that the victim “invited trouble and was also responsible for the same”.

According to the FIR registered in September last year, the victim is a postgraduate student and lived as a paying guest in Delhi. On September 21, she and her friends visited a restaurant in Hauz Khas. They drank there till 3 am and became “very intoxicated”. “Since she needed support, therefore, she herself agreed to go to the house of the applicant and take rest,” Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh has said in the order.

“The allegation of the victim that applicant instead of his house took her to his relative’s flat and raped her twice is false and against the evidence on record. On the strength of said facts, it is argued that considering the facts of the case as disclosed by the victim, it is not a case of rape but may be a case of consensual relationship between the parties concerned,” the order added.

Justice Singh has said that the accused’s counsel has submitted that there is no chance of him running from the judicial process or tampering with evidence. The counsel has also pointed out that Nischal has been in jail since December 11 and that he has no criminal history. The counsel has assured the court that the accused will not misuse the liberty of bail. 

The order adds that the state government’s counsel opposed the bail petition but could not dispute the “factual aspect of the matter”.

“Having heard learned counsel for the parties and examined the matter in its entirety, I find that it is not in dispute that victim and applicant both are major. Victim is student of M.A., hence she was competent enough to understand the morality and significance of her act as disclosed by her in the FIR. This Court is of the view that even if the allegation of the victim is accepted as true, then it can also be concluded that she herself invited trouble and was also responsible for the same. Similar stand has been taken by the victim in her statement. In her medical examination, her hymen was found torn but doctor did not give any opinion about the sexual assault,” the judge has said in the order.

The court granted bail to Nischal Chandak, asking him to cooperate with the investigation.

This comes weeks after the March 17 judgment by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of Allahabad High Court that has sparked a massive row for its absurd observations. The judge was hearing the accused’s challenge to a lower court order summoning them under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code, which deals with rape.

“…the allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down lower garment of the victim and for that purpose they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident. This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim,” reads para 21 of the high court ruling.

The lower court had summoned the accused under IPC Section 376, relating to rape, read with Section 18 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Striking this down, the high court judge had said, “In order to bring out a charge of attempt to rape the prosecution must establish that it had gone beyond the stage of preparation. The difference between preparation and actual attempt to commit an offence consists chiefly in the greater degree of determination.”

The judgment drew strong criticism from the Supreme Court, which noted that it reflected a “total lack of sensitivity”. The top court said it was pained to see some observations in the verdict and sought replies from the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government.

“We are pained to state that it shows a total lack of sensitivity on the part of the author of the judgment. It was not even at the spur of the moment and was delivered four months after reserving the same. Thus, there was application of mind. We are usually hesitant to grant stay at this stage. But since observations in paragraphs 21, 24 and 26 is unknown to cannons of law and shows inhuman approach, we stay the observations in said paras,” the top court said.