Rush Hour: HC says disputed Bhojshala a temple, Centre accepts ‘breach’ in NEET command chain & more
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The Madhya Pradesh High Court held that the disputed Bhojshala-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Dhar district is a temple of the Hindu deity Saraswati. The bench quashed a 2003 order of the Archaeological Survey of India, which allowed Hindus to perform prayers on the premises on Tuesdays and Muslims to offer namaz in the complex on Fridays.
It also allowed the Muslim side to seek alternative land in the district to build a mosque. The court said it arrived at its decision on the basis of the precedent laid down by the Supreme Court in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case. Read on.
Opposition leaders questioned whether the Narendra Modi government had entered into a quid pro quo arrangement, under which the United States was reportedly planning to drop charges against Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani in a fraud case. “The compromised PM has not struck a trade deal, but a bargain for Adani’s release,” claimed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
This came a day after The New York Times reported that the US was planning to drop charges against Adani for allegedly orchestrating a $265 million fraud scheme to bribe officials in India for solar energy contracts, and then misrepresenting the company’s anti-bribery practices to investors in the US.
Commenting on this, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha said the Opposition had earlier pointed out that India’s trade deal with the US “was unfair, lacked balance and ignored India’s interests”. “…the picture is now quite clear to me about what the reality behind the scenes was,” he added. Read on.
The re-exam for the 2026 undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test will be held on June 21. The National Testing Agency made the announcement as the test conducted on May 3, in which more than 22 lakh students appeared, had been cancelled following allegations of a paper leak.
During a press conference, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said there was a “breach” in the command chain for the May 3 test. “We accept it and take responsibility to improve it,” added Pradhan.
He also announced that NEET-UG will be computer-based from next year. Read on.
Why the National Testing Agency continues to fail students in India, reports Johanna Deeksha
The National Investigation Agency moved a special court in Mumbai seeking that the bail granted to activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj in the Bhima Koregaon case be cancelled. The court has directed the activists to respond.
The agency contended that they attended a meeting at the Mumbai Press Club along with other persons accused in the case on January 19. This violated their bail conditions, it alleged. Read on.
The Allahabad High Court granted bail to eight of the 14 Muslim men who were arrested after they organised an iftar party on a boat in the river Ganga and allegedly ate chicken biryani. They had moved the High Court after a session court in Varanasi denied bail to all the accused men on April 1.
They face charges of hurting religious sentiments, public nuisance and extortion. Charges that punish publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form have also been invoked. Read on.
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