Lotha Hoho clarifies on Lotha Baptist Churches Association imbroglio

Lotha Hoho (LH) has clarified that it had not interfered in any court proceedings regarding Lotha Baptist Churches Association (LBCA). LH was responding to the Home department’s letter, asking all parties to maintain status quo in the matter regarding dissolution of LBCA administration and replacing it with an interim administration.
The letter also noted that the steps taken by LH and consequent action, if any, at this juncture could be construed as interference in the Court proceedings and also considered as obstruction on the administration of justice, as the matter was subjudice. Reacting to the State government’s claim in this regard, LH chairman Er Mhondamo Ovung and general secretary S Abenthung Ngullie said the case at Kohima Bench of Gauhati High Court was filed by legal cell of Wokha Town Baptist Church (WTBC) for possession of sector church buildings and immovable assets. It claimed that this review petition had nothing to do with it or LBCA.
Further, LH said the criminal complaint registered in the court of judicial magistrate first class, Wokha, was ongoing between Rev Dr L Tsanso and members of Modality Committee, WTBC, for defamation message posted by the latter in social media. It pointed out that the criminal complaint was against Tsanso and not against LBCA, adding that such a legal proceeding involving a church leader was a valid reason for disqualification/removal. This criminal complaint case had been misconstrued as though against LBCA.
Mentioning that criminal case filed by Tsanso at the High Court against five members of Modality Committee, WTBC was between the two parties, LH also clarified that the case had nothing to do with it or LBCA though it had been misconstrued as against LBCA. The hoho asked the State government to verify the listed cases from the courts to ascertain whether it had interfered in any court proceeding; and whether what the latter was doing was right.
Inferring that the government had been misguided by the March 27, 2022 letter of DC Wokha, LH claimed that it knew the ground reality, what was good for the Lothas as a whole, who was doing right and who was doing wrong and the matter was also within Lotha community. Hence, it said the government should not intervene.