New Delhi: The Supreme Court reserved Wednesday its order on whether the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute can be settled through mediation.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi heard the contesting parties. The bench also comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer heard submissions from various Hindu and Muslim bodies involved in the matter.
Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties – the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
The apex court also said it was conscious of the gravity of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute. The bench said the case was not only about property but also about sentiment and faith. “It is not only about property. It is about mind, heart and healing, if possible,” the five-judge bench said. “We are not concerned about what Mughal ruler Babur had done and what happened after. We can go into what exists in the present moment,” the bench added.
The top court had asked the contesting parties to explore the possibility of amicably settling the decades-old dispute through mediation, stating that it may help in ‘healing relations’.
PTI