Babri Masjid panel likely to move SC with curative plea

The Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) is likely to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court against its November 9 verdict in the Ayodhya title suit that favoured the construction of a Ram temple on a disputed site in the holy town.

The decision was taken at a meeting in Lucknow on Wednesday of the BMAC, which has resisted the theory that Mughal emperor Babur had destroyed a temple at the site and constructed the now-demolished Babri mosque on its ruins.

“A meeting of the Babri Masjid Action Committee was convened in Lucknow (on Wednesday). In this meeting, possibilities of filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court against its November 9 verdict on the Ayodhya title suit were discussed,” said Haji Mahboob, a member of the committee and one of the petitioners in the case.

“When a curative petition is filed, we will ask the Supreme Court to hand over to us the debris of the Babri Masjid which is lying at the site,” added Mahboob. A review petition filed by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and others on the Supreme Court verdict was rejected by the top court on December 12. A curative petition is the last judicial resort possible on any judgment passed by the Supreme Court.

In a landmark ruling, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on November 9 unanimously ruled that the disputed site in Ayodhya will go to Hindus and Muslims will get an alternative five-acre plot for the construction of a mosque.

The court also ordered the government to set up a trust to oversee the management of the site and the construction of a temple.

Later, on December 13, the Supreme Court dismissed several review petitions challenging its verdict and said there were no grounds whatsoever for interference with its judgment. The petitions were decided in-chamber.

“We have gone through the review petitions and the connected papers filed therewith. We do not find any ground, whatsoever, to entertain the same. The Review Petitions are, accordingly, dismissed,” a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde said in its order.

The 16th century Babri mosque was demolished in December 1992 by Hindu activists who claim it had been built on the ruins of a Ram temple and that it marks the exact birthplace of the Hindu warrior-god.