Verdict must be challenged: AIMPLB
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s legal committee, which met in the Capital on Saturday, has recommended to the board that the Ayodhya verdict of the Allahabad High Court should be appealed in the Supreme Court.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s legal committee, which met in the Capital on Saturday, has recommended to the board that the Ayodhya verdict of the Allahabad High Court should be appealed in the Supreme Court.
The legal committee, which comprises mostly legal professionals, presented its findings and views on the September 30 verdict, which had ruled for carving up of the disputed site equally among Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara, a denomination of the Hindus.
SC lawyer Huzefa Ahmadi, who is son of former SC chief justice A.H. Ahmadi, former diplomat Syed Shahabuddin, Mumbai-based lawyer Yusuf Hatim Muchala, Hyderabad-based lawyer A.R. Qureishi and Delhi lawyer Anis Suharawardy were among those who recommended the decision to go in for an appeal.
According to sources, the law board’s legal panel in its analysis found the Ayodhya verdict to be based on “several
legal infirmities, which ought to be challenged at a higher court”.
The recommendation will be taken up by the full 51-member working committee of Muslim law board, when it meets on October 16. The legal panel will also explore ways in which the Muslim law board could intervene in the case, possibly as an appellant.
The Sunni Central Waqf Board, the main Muslim party in the case, has already decided to appeal the verdict.
According to Waqf board lawyer Zafaryab Jilani, three principal points to be appealed had been determined, which would be fine-tuned and more issues included in the final appeal.
“Existence of Ram Lalla as the birthplace of Lord Ram is not based on evidence but on faith. That’s the main point to be appealed against,” Jilani said.
Next, the Waqf Board would assert that Muslims were in uninterrupted possession of the inner courtyard of the disputed site for centuries until 1949, when idols were placed there clandestinely, while the outer courtyard was in the possession of one party, the Nirmohi Akhara.
Thirdly, the Waqf Board will contest the high court’s view that the mosque had been built against the tenets of Islam and Shariah.
