Ayodhya case: SC bench expresses unhappiness over interference by lawyer during arguments

The Supreme Court bench hearing the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case expressed unhappiness on Tuesday after a lawyer for a Muslim party interjected several times during the submissions of a counsel of deity 'Ram Lalla Virajman'

"Let it be loud and clear that we do not want any more interference," said the five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for the deity, was referring to a 19th century report of P Carnegie on the importance of Ayodhya for Hindus before the bench.

Ayodhya has been the religious and pious place for Hindus like Mecca and Jerusalem are for Muslims and Jews respectively, Vaidyanathan told the bench which also comprised justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

 

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the legal heirs of original litigant M Siddiq, got up and said, "so far, not a single exhibit has been shown or read out to your Lordships. Only thing which is read out is Carnegi and etc."

A visibly irked chief justice said, "Let them (Vaidyanathan and others) read whatever they like to and the way they like to argue. We will not stop you from reading whatever you like to read when your turn comes."

They are not reading the documents, Dhavan said.

"This is getting too much Mr. Dhavan," the bench said, adding that if the lawyer was not reading the relevant materials then this was his "weak points" which would go against him.

"We will also go through whatever you will read and allow you to argue in the manner, you would like to argue," the bench told Dhavan.

"Let it be loud and clear that we do not want any more interference. We want to make it clear that there should not be any interference," it said, adding that the bench was not in a "hurry" and the arguing counsel can take as much time as he wanted to put forth the submissions.

The bench then asked Vadyanathan, who would continue advancing submissions on Wednesday for the deity, to argue his case the way he wanted to.

"Mr Vaidyanathan, you have to prove your case. You argue the case at your pace. You argue the case as you want to. We are not in a hurry," the bench said.

The crucial day-to-day hearing in the case will entre its sixth day on Wednesday when the counsel for the deity 'Ram Lalla Virajman' would re-commencing arguments for the claim over the entire 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya.