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Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
While welcoming the unanimous Ayodhya verdict, Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde told The Quint, “Unanimity is very important in such cases which have deep social implications.”
Speaking about the SC order that calls for the creation of a central government-led trust, entrusted with the responsibility to come up with the scheme for the Ram temple and also ensure Muslims are given five acres of alternate land, Hegde says,
The order says that the Muslims were unable to prove exclusive possession of the disputed site.
Hegde explains, “The verdict calls the demolition of the mosque a negation of the rule of law. That is very important. It also condemns the act of placing the idols inside the mosque in 1949. However, it goes further back and says pre-1857, there was no evidence of exclusive possession in Muslim hands alone.”
He adds, “Post 1857, there were British administrators who divided the land in a manner of speaking by allowing Hindus access to the outer courtyards and giving the inner courtyards to the Muslims. That itself did not grant exclusive possession. In a sense, the court was told to unscramble a 500-year-old scrambled egg. It has tried its best under the circumstances,” he says.
Looking forward, Hegde says, “A man may want to file a review, but does he have a case for review? I doubt it, because it seems to me that all the evidence and pleasings were taken account of. The only question as far as the moulding of relief is concerned is Article 145.”
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