SC refuses early hearing in Ram Temple issue, Swamy says will try another route

Decision comes a week after the SC offered to mediate an out-of-court settlement in the dispute over a 2.7-acre land that many Hindus say is the birthplace of Ram, a claim bitterly opposed by Muslim groups.

The Supreme Court declined on Friday an early hearing on a plea over a decades-old dispute over the construction of a Ram Temple at a religious site in Ayodhya.

This photo taken on December 6, 1992, shows a Hindu mob shouting and waving banners as they stand on the top of a stone wall and celebrate the destruction of the 16th Century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. (AFP file photo)

The decision came roughly a week after the SC offered to mediate an out-of-court settlement in the dispute over a 2.7-acre land that many Hindus say is the birthplace of Ram, a claim bitterly opposed by Muslim groups.

The court told BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy – who had filed the petition for early hearing – that he wasn’t a party to the original dispute. “What is your locus standi in the case? We don’t have time to hear you now,” the judges were quoted by ANI as saying.

Swamy said he told the court he wasn’t a party to the original dispute but approached the judiciary on the “fundamental right to worship”.

“In other words those who wanted delay succeeded. I will try another route soon.”