I’m not sure which quotation marks specifically you’re referring to, but in newspapers, they’re used to indicate exact quotes. They’re not used the way they usually are on the internet, such as to indicate sarcasm or “alternate word choices”.

For those that didn’t click the article

Lodging a complaint at the Binauli police station on Saturday, the woman’s brother said that on Wednesday, she was working at the cauldron when Pramod, Raju and Sandeep allegedly molested and misbehaved with his sister. When she protested, the accused allegedly threw her into the hot cauldron with the intention of killing her, and also hurled “casteist words” at her. After this, the three accused fled.

This isn’t Times of India, it’s The Telegraph (India).