Meet photojournalist Praveen Jain, who is keeping a keen eye on history

Jain became a witness to the Ayodhya case after covering what he felt was a routine assignment for a weekly newspaper

For Praveen Jain, the growing pitch for a Ram temple in Ayodhya has played out in recent weeks to an all-too-familiar script. The associate editor (photo) with The Indian Express is the only photojournalist to have documented a dummy run a day before the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

At the time, Jain was working with The Pioneer, which did not publish his photos. The editors thought little of the rehearsal even as no one quite anticipated what was to follow. On December 6, 1992, the 16th-century shrine was felled by a mob of kar sevaks (volunteers), who also