Passage 1
In staying the execution of an Allahabad High Court order to appoint a commissioner to inspect the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura, the Supreme Court has stalled for a while a likely move to get the status of the place of worship altered through the courts. The top court has halted the appointment of the commission after finding it was sought on vague grounds without any particular reason. It has also taken into account a recent precedent in which the Supreme Court has ruled that civil courts should not grant any interim relief if there is a question about the maintainability of the suit or if the suit is barred by law. The committee of management of the Shahi Idgah Mosque has questioned the maintainability of the suit in the name of the deity, Bhagwan Sri Krishna Virajman, and other Hindu worshippers on the ground that it is barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship.
Source – https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/
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Passage 2
South Africa’s (SA) application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is simple but devastating. Israel is a state founded on saying “never again” to the modern Nazi genocide against the Jews. SA alleges violations of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Convention) because Israel continually threatens, adopts, and condones genocidal acts “against the Palestinian people, a distinct national, racial and ethnical group”. SA “unequivocally condemns all violations of international law by all parties, including the direct targeting of Israeli civilians and other nationals and hostage-taking by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups”, but it maintains that no “armed attack on a state’s territory” even “serious… “attack involving atrocity crimes” can, provide any possible justification for breaches of the Convention whether in “law or morality”. Rather, the Convention is attracted because “acts and omissions by Israel” manifest genocidal intent as these “are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group in the Gaza Strip… including intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population… and buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science, historic monuments, hospitals”.
Source- https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/
