Ayodhya verdict: Mystery over who wrote the judgement

Who wrote the unanimous judgement on Ayodhya issue and who authored the addendum that explains why the disputed place was the birthplace of Lord Ram as per the faith and belief of Hindus?

The Supreme Court has not disclosed the name of the judge who authored the 1,045-page judgement by the five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The other members of the bench were Chief Justice-designate S A Bobde as well as Justices D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer.

The mystery of the author was a matter of discussion on social media and it surprised many.

CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told DH, "it is very unusual that the judgement does not make it clear that who is the author of the judgement. It is normally mentioned. We also don't know who wrote the addendum. This is unprecedented."

The 116-page addendum by one of the judges is also part of the judgement and that too does not mention who was the author.

"One of us, while being in agreement with the above reasons and directions, has recorded separate reasons on: ―Whether the disputed structure is the birth-place of Lord Ram according to the faith and belief of the Hindu devotees‖. The reasons of the learned judge are set out in an addendum. , which explains why the disputed place is the birthplace of Lord Ram," the judgement said.

Usually, the name of the judge who authors the judgement is written at the beginning of the verdict and names of other concurring judges are written at the end of the judgement. Some lawyers suggested that there were previous instances where the author of the verdict was not mentioned. It could also because more than one judge have contributed to writing the voluminous verdict, they said.

Some people on Twitter also speculated about the judge who wrote the judgement and addendum by analysing the style adopted in writing the verdict.