India's top court weighs in on mosque–temple controversy
Voice of America
The 800-year-old Shamsi Jama Masjid in Budaun city in Uttar Pradesh. A local Hindu right-wing group, which has filed petitions to a local court seeking its control, claims that this is a Hindu temple. (Shaikh Azizur Rahman/VOA) People praying at Budaun’s Shamsi Jama Masjid on Oct. 20, 2022. Although it is a currently functioning mosque, the Hindu nationalist group Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha claims that Muslims stopped praying here 'decades ago.' (Shaikh Azizur Rahman/VOA) Shahi Idgah mosque and Krishna Janmabhumi temple in the north Indian Hindu holy city of Mathura. (Shaikh Azizur Rahman/VOA)
A trial court's order that triggered violence this week, leaving six Muslims dead, should be taken to the Uttar Pradesh state's highest court, India's Supreme Court said Friday.
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Loraine Mwanza, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), speaks at the launch of the USAID-Funded MISA Freedom of Expression Report at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Dec. 17, 2024. (Kathy Short for VOA)
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Pope Francis presides over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024, after opening the basilica's Holy Door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025. Pope Francis presides over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024, after opening the basilica's holy door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025. Pope Francis opens the Holy Door to mark the opening of the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024. The first pilgrims pass through after Pope Francis opened the Holy Door to mark the opening of the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024.