SC TO HEAR AYODHYA CASE TODAY
13 appeals to be heard against Allahabad high court order
NEW DELHI: Just a day ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 1992, the Supreme Court is set to begin final hearing in the politically controversial Babri masjid-Ram temple dispute case. A special bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer will assemble at 2pm on December 5, Tuesday, to begin hearing a total of 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad HC in 4 civil suits.
NEWDELHI: Just a day ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, the Supreme Court is set to begin final hearing in the Babri masjid-Ram temple dispute case.
A special bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer will assemble at 2pm on Tuesday to begin hearing a total of 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad high court in four civil suits.
The high court had then ruled a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acre area at Ayodhya among the parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the deity Ram Lalla (Ram as an infant).
Contesting parties, including the Uttar Pradesh government, are likely to make their opening statements on Tuesday.
The Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board had earlier approached the court offering a solution that a mosque could be built in a Muslim- dominated area at a “reasonable distance” from the disputed site in Ayodhya. The Shia board was not a party in the case originally.
However, its intervention was opposed by the Sunni board which had claimed that judicial adjudication between the two sects had already been done in 1946 by declaring the mosque as one which belongs to the Sunnis.
The Sunni board also challenged the judgment, saying it was based on faith rather than documentary evidence.
It also said the verdict violated Articles 25-26 of the Constitution, which grants equal rights to all faiths. The appeal has the endorsement of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, one of the original litigants. In March, the Supreme Court had suggested an out-ofcourt settlement. None of the parties were keen on it.
Recently a group of civil rights activists also moved the apex court seeking intervention in the Ayodhya dispute and urged it to consider the issue saying it is not just a dispute over property but has several aspects that would have farreaching effects on the “secular fabric of the country”.
Since September 2010, over 20 appeals and cross-appeals have been filed in the SC. In pursuance to the SC’s earlier direction, the Yogi Adityanath government has submitted English translation of exhibits and documents likely to be relied upon, as these were in eight different languages.
The SC had on August 11 asked the UP government to complete within 10 weeks the translation of the evidence recorded for adjudication in the HC. It said it won’t allow the matter to take any shape other than the civil appeals and would adopt the same procedure as was done by the high court.