Supreme Court dismisses all review petitions against Ayodhya verdict

mangaloretoday/ News18

New Delhi, December 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed all the review petitions challenging a Constitution Bench’s order in the Ayodhya case that had cleared the way for construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site.

The review petitions were taken up in chamber by a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, SA Nazeer and Sanjeev Khanna. A total of 18 petitions had been listed for hearing by the bench on Thursday.

A number of Muslim parties, including some supported by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, 40 activists, Hindu Mahasabha and the Nirmohi Akhara were among the parties who approached the apex court.

The petitioners had said they were aggrieved by the court’s decision, and stated that the decision needs to be reconsidered as there were errors apparent on the face of the record.

The Muslim side filed a review petition against the verdict contending that the relief to Hindu parties amounted to rewarding illegal acts of trespass and demolition committed against the mosque. The judgment was mostly based on Hindu faith than secular principles, contended another set of review petitions filed by persons backed by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

Nirmohi Akhara, whose claims of ’shebait’ (or management) of the deity were dismissed by the Court, had also sought review of the verdict.

Later, forty civil rights activists, who were not parties in the original case, had filed a review petition. They contended that the verdict impacted "the syncretic culture of the country and its secular fabric envisaged in the Constitution".

A five-judge bench, headed by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, had in a unanimous verdict on November 9 decreed the entire 2.77 acre disputed land in favour of deity ’Ram Lalla’ and also directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to Sunni Waqf Board at an alternative site for building of a mosque in Ayodhya.