‘Ayodhya namaz case won’t go to larger bench’

NEW DELHI: By a majority 2-1 judgement, the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea for referring the Ramjanambhoomi-babri Masjid issue to a larger Constitution Bench and referred the case to a three-judge bench to be set up that will begin hearing from October 29.

“No case has been made out to refer the case to a Constitution Bench,” said Justice Ashok Bhushan, reading the judgement on behalf of himself and Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who headed Thursday’s threejudge bench.

The bench was giving its verdict on petitions by some Muslims who had pleaded that the 2010 judgement of the Allahabad High Court splitting the title dispute into three parts be heard by a Constitution Bench as it involved reconsideration of a 1994 ruling by a five-judge bench of the apex court which had held that mosque was not an essential part of Islam to offer namaz.

The petitioners had contended that while deciding the title suit in 2010, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court had referred to the observations made in the 1994 judgement by the five-judge bench.

However, in a dissenting ruling, Justice Abdul Nazeer said the judgement in the 1994 Ismail Farooqi case needed reconsideration, and the matter should be referred to a larger seven-judge bench.

The majority judgement on Thursday held that a newly constituted bench would commence hearing from October 29 on a batch of petitions filed by both the sides - Hindu and Muslim stakeholders - challenging the 2010 judgement trifurcating the disputed site into three parts for Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and the original

Muslim litigant.

“Observations in Ismail Farooqi case on mosques not being essential to religion was in the context of the acquisition of mosque and made concerning facts of that case. The observation made in Ismail Farooqi case has to be treated as only observation and not as the deciding factor of a suit,” Justice Bhushan observed.

In his minority judgement, Justice Nazeer said “questionable” observations in the Ismail Farooqi ruling were arrived at without undertaking a comprehensive examination, and they had permeated the judgement in the main Ayodhya title suit.

He said a Constitution Bench must decide what constitutes essential practices of a religion and after that, the Ayodhya land dispute should be heard.

Justice Nazeer also said that whether the mosque was an essential part of Islam for offering namaz was to be decided considering the religious beliefs and requires detailed consideration.

He also said that the question of the 1994 Ismail Farooqi judgement needed to be referred to a seven-judge bench.

NEW DELHI: The RSS welcomed the Supreme Court ruling on Ayodhya on Thursday and expressed confidence that a just verdict on the case will be reached at the earliest.

“Today, the Supreme Court has decided to hold hearing on the Shri Rama Janmabhumi case from 29th October by a three member bench. We welcome this decision and are confident that a just verdict will be reached over the case at the earliest,” the Sangh said in a statement.

The Supreme Court has declined to refer to a five-judge Constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgement that a mosque was not integral to Islam which had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.

In a majority verdict of 2:1, an apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the civil suit has to be decided on the basis of evidence, adding that the previous verdict has no relevance on this issue.

The apex court said now the civil suit on land dispute will be heard by a newly constituted three-judge bench on October 29 as Justice Misra will retire on October 2 as the CJI.

Reacting to the verdict, RSS leader Indresh Kumar said he is confident the judiciary will decide the Ayodhya issue in a speedy manner and alleged that the Congress was against its swift resolution as it wanted to keep “problems alive”.

“Like in the case of triple talaq in which India and the world is congratulating the court and the judges for liberating 8.5 crore Muslim women from the clutches of injustice, they will solve this problem and create history in 2018 like they did with triple talaq in 2017,” Kumar told Times Now news channel.