Muslim organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Thursday changed its stance on filing a review petition against the Ayodhya verdict, saying it had decided to no longer do so even though the Supreme Court’s judgement was “one-sided”, reported Times Now. However, the organisation said it would not accept the five-acre plot for a mosque at an alternative place in Ayodhya.
The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had on November 17 decided to file a review petition. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board had also decided to do so the same day.
On November 9, the top court’s five-judge Constitution bench had said that a trust should be set up by the Centre within three months to oversee the construction of a Ram temple at the site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid stood till 1992. The Muslims, the court had said, should be given a five-acre plot elsewhere in Ayodhya for the construction of a new mosque as relief for the “unlawful destruction” of the Babri Masjid.
“The working committee of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind holds the recent Supreme Court verdict on Babri mosque unjust and overwhelmingly one-sided,” the organisation said in a resolution, according to The Indian Express. “It has confirmed that the mosque was not built after demolishing any temple but there existed a mosque for several hundred years which was demolished and now the court has paved the way for construction of a temple over its site. As such the judgment is the darkest spot in the history of free India.”
The group’s former Uttar Pradesh general secretary, M Siddiq, was one of the original petitioners in the case. The current state general secretary, Ashhad Rashidi, later became the petitioner.
The outfit said filing a review petition may cause further damage, but decided not to oppose other Muslim organisations that have decided to do so. Jamiat said it hopes that review pleas filed by others do not produce any “negative effect”.
The organisation’s chief, Arshad Madani, had earlier said the verdict was “not based on evidence and logic”.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!