Ram Temple verdict was based on law, not religion, says ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi

Gogoi said that the Ayodhya dispute judgement was not his personal decision

Former chief justice of India (CJI) and Rajya Sabha member Ranjan Gogoi has said that the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict was based on 'law' and not 'religion'.

Speaking at a function in Varanasi on Monday, Gogoi, whose nomination to the Upper House barely six months after his retirement invited sharp criticism from some Opposition parties, said that the Ayodhya dispute judgement was not his personal decision. "It was not my decision but the decision of the Supreme Court," he said.

"Five judges had written the 900-page judgement in three-four months... The verdict was based on law and Constitution and not religion," Gogoi added.

He also said that for a judge the Constitution is the religion.

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Gogoi headed the Supreme Court bench, which had delivered the verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Title suits in November 2019. The court had given the disputed land to the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide a different land for the purpose of construction of the Babri Masjid near Faizabad.

Gogoi had also headed the Supreme Court bench that had given a clean chit to the Center on the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The Congress had alleged corruption in the deal and demanded an investigation into the same.

He was also one of the four judges, who had held a press conference, when Justice Dipak Mishra was the CJI, and had alleged selective assignment of cases to the preferred judges in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Gogoi had defended the decision to nominate him to the Rajya Sabha.

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