MASSIVE: Supreme Court dismisses all 18 review petitions challenging its Ayodhya verdict

In a massive development in the Ayodhya verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday has dismissed all 18 review pleas filed in the apex court, giving finality to the Ayodhya land dispute. The 5-judge bench constitution bench comprising of CJI Sharad Bobde and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Justices DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer held an in-chamber meeting on Thursday. The decision to scrap all review pleas has been taken unanimously, stating some of those who had filed for review were not a party to the original dispute.

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SC dismisses all review petitions for Ayodhya verdict

The review pleas have been filed by Mohammad Siddiq, Farooq Ahmed, Maulana Mufti Hasbulla Misbadin, Haji Mahboob Ahmad, Maulana Mahfuzarrahman, Haji Asad Ahmed, All India Hindu Mahasabha, Shia Central Board, Dr. Muhammad Ayub, Tehreek Farukh A. Islam, Samrat Priyadarshi, Youth Foundation of India, Indian National League, Prabhat Patnaik, Abdul Anees Ansari, Social Democratic Party of India, Dal Chand Kapil, Ambareesh Kumar and Nirmohi Akhada. One of the litigants - Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had stated that there were several discrepancies in the verdict. Moreover, 40 academics and activists too had filed a review plea through senior advocate Prashant Bhushan. Several bodies like AIPLMB, Nirmahi Akhara were among those who had filed a review petition. 

Ayodhya Verdict: Disputed land to be given to Hindus, holds SC

Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict

Pronouncing the landmark judgment in the Ayodhya dispute case on November 9, the Supreme Court, delivered a unanimous judgment in the title suit of the disputed area awarding it to the Hindu parties for the construction of a temple. It also directed the Centre to come up with a scheme within three months to set up a trust which will hand over the outer courtyard and inner courtyard of the site for construction of a temple. Apart from this, the SC stated that an alternate land of 5 acres is to be allotted to Muslims for the liberty of constructing a mosque, either by the central govt or the State govt, in a suitable and prominent place in Ayodhya. CJI Ranjan Gogoi, while delivering the unanimous judgment, dismissed the claims of the Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara. He also termed that the three-way division of the disputed land by the Allahabad HC in its 2010 verdict is wrong.

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What is the Ayodhya Land dispute?

While the dispute of the existence of a temple prior to the mosque has been contested for 461 years, the point of contention started when in December 1949, a crowd entered the mosque and installed a Hindu idol beneath the Central dome of the mosque, believed to be the birthplace of Ram. After the incident, the area was sealed off till 1986 - when it was unsealed on the orders of a civil court, allowing Hindus to worship under the Central dome of the mosque where the makeshift temple had been installed. The dispute flared in 1992, when the disputed structure was demolished, after which five cases were filed in the matter, with the Allahabad High Court pronouncing its verdict in 2010 - splitting the disputed land equally, with a third of the property going to each party.

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