Overview
- The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, which took up the proposal Monday, rejected by voice vote a BJP legislator’s bid to create a new law to protect temples and reclaim encroached land.
- Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Singh Choudhary said a fresh statute was unnecessary because existing bodies such as the Waqf Board, the Gurdwara Prabandhak Board, and the Dharmarth Trust, along with current laws, already safeguard religious sites.
- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah declared his opposition in the House before debate, and Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather called the vote after Balwant Singh Mankotia refused to withdraw the proposal.
- Mankotia defended the bill by citing militant-era damage and alleged encroachments, including his claim that 700 temples were vandalised and that 96 police cases remain on record.
- After the defeat, Mankotia accused Kashmir-based parties of double standards and pointed to a High Court-formed panel led by the Chief Secretary that he said has moved slowly on restoring seized temple properties.