Supreme Court Dismisses All 18 Review Petitions Which Had Challenged Ayodhya Verdict In Favor Of The Ram Temple

The Supreme Court has dismissed all the 18 review petitions which were filed challenging the November 9 judgment of the Constitution Bench in the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid case, which had cleared the way for construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site.

The review petitions were taken up by a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde and comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice S A Nazeer and Justice Sanjeev Khanna.

A number of Muslim parties, including some supported by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), 40 activists, Hindu Mahasabha and the Nirmohi Akhara were among the parties who had approached the Supreme Court.

The bench held that the review petitions lacked merit. Regarding the review sought by 40 activists, the bench held that those who were not parties to the suit cannot be permitted to file a review.

The petitioners had stated that they were aggrieved by the Supreme Court's decision, and added that the decision needs to be reconsidered since there were errors apparent on the face of the record.

The Muslim side had 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 (AIMPLB).

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

Later, 40 civil rights activists, who were not parties in the original case, had filed a review petition which contended that the verdict impacted “the syncretic culture of the country and its secular fabric envisaged in the Constitution”.

It may be recalled that a five-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, in a unanimous verdict on November 9, had decreed the entire 2.77 acre of disputed land in favor of deity 'Ram Lalla' and also directed the central government to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board at an alternative site, in order to construct a mosque in Ayodhya.