Damaged Jewish Center Is Disputed 2 Years After Mumbai Attacks

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Damaged Jewish Center Is Disputed 2 Years After Mumbai Attacks

MUMBAI, India — Days ahead of the second anniversary of a deadly terrorist attack on this bustling city, a Jewish center that was the site of some of the most brutal killings has become the subject of an awkward legal dispute.

At issue is who will oversee the renovation of the building that housed the center — the family of the rabbi who was killed there along with his wife, or its parent denomination, Chabad-Lubavitch. Also in dispute is how the building, Nariman House, will be used once construction is complete.

At a news conference at the scaffold-clad building on Wednesday, the parents of the rabbi said they recently started renovating Nariman House on their own because the denomination was not moving fast enough.

But Chabad-Lubavitch, a Hasidic group based in Brooklyn, has obtained a court order to stop the work, and the Bombay High Court will now determine who is responsible for the building, which was badly damaged during a bloody three-day assault. The group says that the renovation work commissioned by the family was not being done with all the necessary permits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/world/asia/25mumbai.html?_r=1&ref=global-home