[Ayodhya-Day-8] Shia Waqf Board Ready To Surrender The Claim For Land; Demolition Of Babri Masjid An Act Of 'Hindu Taliban', Submits Rajeev Dhavan

Comparing the demolition of the Babri Masjid with the tearing down of the Bamiyan statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban, Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan commented, “What happened in 1992 can be called an act of the Hindu Taliban...it could not have been done, it should not have been done....no equities lie”.In the course of the hearing in the Ram Janmabhumi-Babri Masjid dispute before the Supreme Court on Friday, the Shia Central Board of Waqf, UP, agreed to surrender its stake in the disputed land in the interest of the “integrity of the country”.The attention of the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer was drawn to the observation by Allahabad High Court Justice Sudhir Agarwal in the impugned verdict of 2010, in respect of the 1946 judgment delivered by Civil Judge, Faizabad declaring the Babri Masjid to be a Sunni Waqf.“The waqf created by a Shia Waqif would be a Shia Waqf and could not be a Sunni Waqf. Admittedly, as per their case, the mosque was built by Mir Baqi who was a Shia and that he being a Waqif his heirs were the Mutwallis one after the other, but the Shia Central Board of Waqfs U.P. did not agitate the case any further either because of negligence or collusion in those difficult days of communal conflict immediately before the partition”, Justice Agarwal had noted.Senior Counsel Rajiv Dhavan, appearing for the Sunni Waqf Board, advanced that there was no need to respond to the argument, as an appeal had been filed against the 1946 judgment and was pending before the apex court.On behalf of the Shia Waqf Board, it was also contended that ‘religion’ is not defined anywhere in Islam, that the Supreme Court in Ismail Farooqui (1994) has not held ‘namaz’ as an essential and integral part of Islam, and accordingly, its reconsideration by a constitution bench was not necessary.It may be noted that on previous occasions, Dr. Dhavan has pressed for a reference to a larger of the 1994 judgment in as much as it was observed therein that the mosque is not an essential part of the religion of Islam and that the ‘namaz’ may be offered even in the open.[Ayodhya-Day-7] Mosques Are Not Built For Fun, They Are Meant For Congregation And Prayer, So Essential To Islam, Argues Rajeev Dhavan“That is the question I want Your Lordships to settle- whether the offering of prayer is the essential practice or its offering in a mosque”, replied Dr. Dhavan.“After 70 years, with Your Lordships’ fortification, this country has seen religious equality...no faith has the right to destroy a mosque...and even after it had been destroyed, to argue in Lucknow that it could not be re-built and that nothing could be done? The destruction of the mosque does not conclude the question of prayer!”, urged the Senior Advocate.Comparing the demolition of the Babri Masjid with the tearing down of the Bamiyan statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban, he commented, “What happened in 1992 can be called an act of the Hindu Taliban...it could not have been done, it should not have been done....no equities lie”.Proceeding to address the concerns expressed at the previous hearing by ASG Tushar Mehta regarding the latches in and the bonafides of seeking a reconsideration of Ismail Farooqui, Dr. Dhavan imputed a “breach of the faith of the court” to the ASG and the state of UP for not maintaining neutrality- “the ASG is for the Union of India which is the statutory receiver of the disputed property...no official of the Union can say there have been latches or otherwise question our bonafide...they cannot be interested in the property or the outcome of the dispute...”“We accept Ismail Farooqui in so far as it says there was no acquisition (of the disputed property) and in as much as the Central government was appointed the statutory receiver...when was the occasion for us to raise alarm? When the Allahabad High Court relied on Ismail Farooqui to say that the mosque is not an essential part of Islam and to discuss the ‘particular significance’ and ‘comparative’ significance’ of places of worship. This was not called for...on the very first day (December 5, 2017), when the pleadings were being exchanged, we had raised the question. I had even insisted on a later date that since the validity of polygamy has been referred to a Constitution bench, this issue should be too...”, he justified.In so far as Senior Counsel C. S. Vaidyanathan had submitted at the last hearing that the “questionable” observations in Ismail Faruqui were for the limited purpose of acquisition and not by way of general principle, Dr. Dhavan replied, “How can Mr. Vaidyanathan say that...in Para 65 of Ismail Farooqui, it has been observed that there was no acquisition...acquisition was denied by reference to the judgment of the Privy Council [Masjid, Shahid Ganj v. S. G. P. Committee, AIR 1940 PC 116]...”He once again criticised the pilgrimage test applied by Senior Advocate K. Parasaran to suggest that the Muslims’ place of pilgrimage, as per...

[Ayodhya-Day-8] Shia Waqf Board Ready To Surrender The Claim For Land; Demolition Of Babri Masjid An Act Of 'Hindu Taliban', Submits Rajeev Dhavan

Mehal Jain

Tags