MEA briefs diplomats of various countries
New Delhi: Diplomats of various countries were briefed by senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs on the Supreme Court's historic verdict in the Ayodhya case on Saturday, sources said. The Supreme Court, in its verdict pronounced earlier in the day, backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot be allotted for building a mosque in the Hindu holy town. Following the verdict, top ministry officials briefed diplomats of various countries and key allies of India, sources said. PTI
2 booked for posting inflammatory messages
Kochi: The police have booked two persons here for allegedly posting inflammatory messages on social media against the backdrop of the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case. The police said the social media and internet monitoring cell of Cyberdome of the Kochi Commissionerate had on Friday found the two persons posting communally inflammatory messages on Facebook ahead of the judgment. Detecting these comments on the Facebook page of another person who is followed by over 35,000 people, the legal action was taken against the duo. PTI
ASI report on site to be published as book
New Delhi: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report which was submitted in the Supreme Court after excavation at the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site will be published as a book, Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters after the apex court verdict, Patel congratulated the ASI team which prepared the report. “The ASI report which till now was the property of the court will soon be published in the form of a book for the public,” he said. PTI
Gogoi to deliver four more key judgments
After the historic verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute , the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi-headed Bench will deliver four other important judgments within a week before he demits office on November 17. The Bench will pronounce a verdict in another politically sensitive case in which a review has been sought of the December 14, 2018 judgement, wherein the Modi government was given a clean chit in the procurement of Rafale jet fighter. His Bench will also pronounce a verdict on a plea seeking criminal contempt proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his “chowkidar chor hai” remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His Bench will also decide on the Sabarimala temple case and on the three appeals filed in 2010 by the Secretary General of the Supreme Court and its Central Public Information officer against the Delhi High Court order that the CJI’s office falls under the ambit of the Right to Information Act.
Ayodhya hearing 2nd longest in SC’s history
The hearing in the Ayodhya land dispute case was the second longest proceedings in the history of the Supreme Court, which lasted 40 days. The high-voltage hearing had commenced on August 6 and concluded on October 16. The arguments in the matter were the second longest after the landmark Keshvanand Bharti case in 1973, during which the proceedings for propounding the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution continued for 68 days. On the concluding day of the marathon hearing, the Bench had observed “enough is enough”.
‘Title must be decided on legal principles’
“The Babri mosque was not constructed on vacant land,” the Supreme Court said on Saturday while accepting the conclusions of Allahabad High Court Justice Sudhir Agarwal. But the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report establishing the presence of a Hindu temple beneath the Babri Masjid cannot supercede the standards, which govern a civil trial, the top court said. “Title to the land must be decided on settled legal principles and by applying evidentiary standards which govern a civil trial,” said the court. The five-judge Bench said, “The underlying structure was not of Islamic origin, and the foundation of the disputed structure rests on the walls of the underlying structure.”
— Agencies
Architect says temple can be completed in 3 years
Ahmedabad: The architect of the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya, Chandrakant Sompura, believes that the construction of the temple, as cleared by the Supreme Court, could be completed by 2022. Ahmedabad-based Sompura, who was asked to prepare the design of the proposed temple by then VHP international president Ashok Singhal before LK Advani's Ram Rath Yatra in 1990, said more than 40 per cent of the stones required for the construction were ready. The octagonal-shaped temple would be 240-ft long, 145-ft wide and 141-ft high and would have 251 pillars. On the ground floor of the temple would be six-ft tall idol of Ram Lalla, Lord Ram as a child, and on the second floor there would be a hall called "Ram Darbar" with idols of Lord Ram, Laxman, Sita and Hanuman. The temple would face eastward but there would be entrances from all the four sides. The temple would be constructed with rosy colour stones available in Bharatpur and Dungarpur regions in Rajasthan. tns
Shouldn’t be stretched, says Jama Masjid Shahi Imam
New Delhi: Accepting the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case, the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid in Delhi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, said on Saturday the matter should not be stretched further. He said Muslims in the country want peace and they had already said that they would accept whatever judgment the apex court delivers. "We accept the court order and the Hindu-Muslim issue which had been going on for several years should come to an end now," Bukhari said in a press conference. Asked about possibility of a review petition being filed against the verdict, he said the matter should not be stretched. pti
CJI-led Bench goes out for dinner at Taj Mansingh
New Delhi: Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi planned a dinner with the four judges on the Ayodhya Bench--Chief Justice-designate SA Bobde, Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice SA Nazeer--at Taj Mansingh in the capital on Saturday. The Chief Justice wanted to be out along with the four judges giving them a break from the hectic schedule in the run-up to the judgement pronounced on Saturday morning, said sources. The five-judge bench began hearing on the Ayodhya title dispute on August 6. After 40 days of daily hearing on the matter, the court had reserved the verdict on October 17. ians
Eid processions called off in several Gujarat cities
Ahmedabad: The Muslim community in several cities in Gujarat has decided to call off processions to mark Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Mohammed, to be held on Sunday, Ahmedabad Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh said. These processions will not be held in Ahmedabad, Surat, Godhra and Bharuch, all cities with sizable Muslim populations, he added. In a statement, Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi Central Committee of Ahmedabad said the decision to cancel the procession was taken on Saturday evening after consulting community leaders, MLAs and scholars. "In view of the verdict on Ayodhya, we have decided not to take out Eid-e-Milad procession on Sunday. Though police has given us permission, we feel a stray incident during the procession can vitiate the peaceful atmosphere,” said Habib Mev, committee's general secretary. PTI
