Curative petition filed in Supreme Court against Ayodhya judgement

A curative petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday by Mohammad Ayub of Uttar Pradesh's Peace Party for reconsideration of the five-judge bench judgement in the Ayodhya case, saying the issue had affected the sentiments of a large number of persons of one community and religion.

The judgement was delivered on November 9 and the orders on review plea on December 11, 2019, giving the title of the 2.77 acres of land to 'Ram Lalla' for construction of a temple over there.

The curative petition, like review plea, is decided by judges inside the chamber, without the presence of counsel.

The petitioner, who was not a party to the suit, approached the top court, contending the judgment contained several errors apparent on the face of the record which went to the root of the matter. It created rights based on illegal acts including demolition of temple, the petitioner said.

“A claim to the possessory title must be based on exclusive and unimpeded possession, established by evidence, which was never the case for the Hindus whether we consider the outer or the inner courtyard, and hence such a finding is contrary to observations in the judgment itself,” he said.

Among other grounds, the petitioner said if a mosque existed at the site for 450 years, then it can be reasonably presumed that it was being used for worship by the Muslims. The mosque has always been used as a mosque since its construction during the regime of Babur, and the travelogues upon which the other parties relied upon also noticed it and hence it cannot be said there is no evidence prior to 1860 of worship by the Muslims at the mosque.

The petitioner also pointed out though the judgement was delivered unanimously by all the five judges, the purpose of putting out an addendum was unknown.