NEW DELHI – Indian Muslims get a blow from the Supreme Court of India.
SC on thursday declined to set up a larger bench for a relook of its 1994verdict which held a “mosque is not an essential part of the practice ofIslam” paving the way for the apex court to hear the politically sensitivemain Ayodhya title suit from October 29.
Ruling that the earlier observation was made in the limited context of”land acquisition” during the hearing of the Ayodhya case, the top court ina 2-1 verdict made it clear it was not relevant for deciding the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute whose outcome will be eagerlyawaited ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The RSS and the BJP welcomed the judgement and expressed confidence that a”just verdict” in the case will be reached at the earliest.”We welcome thisdecision(to start the hearing) and are confident that a just verdict willbe reached in the case at the earliest,” the Sangh said in a statement.
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A Muslim group had assailed the observations made by a five-judgeConstitution bench in 1994 in the Ismail Faruqui case and had soughtreconsideration of its observation that a mosque is not an essential partof Islam on the grounds that it has affected the decison of the High Courtin the land dispute.
