SC pushes Ayodhya title suit to January next year

NO EARLY HEARING Verdict on politically sensitive matter unlikely before polls

NEWDELHI/LUCKNOW: The Supreme Court on Monday turned down requests for an early hearing in the Babri Masjid-ram Janmabhoomi title dispute and said the top court will decide the course of hearings in the first week of January.

In a hearing that barely lasted five minutes, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi dismissed requests by additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Uttar Pradesh government, and senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, who represented the deity Ram Lalla, that the court take up the dispute after the Diwali break.

The decision effectively means that the verdict is unlikely to be out before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections expected to held around April-may, and that the issue may remain dormant during assembly elections in five states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Chhattisgarh – scheduled for November-december this year.

“We have our own priorities. Whether hearing would take place in January, March or April would be decided by an appropriate bench,” the CJI said.

He also clarified that appeals would come up in January before a bench “not for hearing but for fixing the date of hear- ing.” The court is hearing 14 petitions challenging a 2010 Allahabad high court decision that trifurcated the disputed site in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya town between Hindus, Muslims and the representatives of Ram Lalla, a petitioner.

The Ayodhya dispute is among India’s most sensitive and divisive political issues. Hindus believe the 16th century mosque, Babri Masjid, was built over a temple dedicated to Hindu god Ram, whose birthplace is also considered to be at the site. The mosque was demolished by a mob of thousands in 1992, triggering a cycle of violence and riots across India.

The court’s decision evoked a mixed response within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rose to prominence on the back of the Ram Temple movement in the early 1990s. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government had full faith in the judiciary and respected it.