The Ram Mandir case in the Supreme Court of India has been deferred again after a member of the 5-judge bench, Justice UU Lalit, recused himself. As per reports, Justice Lalit recused himself after advocate Rajiv Dhawan, who represents the Muslim side in the case, pointed it out that Justice Lalit had represented one of the parties in another case twenty-four years ago.
As per reports, advocate Rajiv Dhawan, on behalf of one of the petitioners, pointed it out that in 1994, Justice UU Lalit had represented former UP CM Kalyan Singh, in a contempt of court case. Kalyan Singh was the CM of UP during the demolition of the disputed structure.
Dhawan reportedly said, “I am bringing it to Your Lordships notice though we don’t have an objection to him hearing the matter. It is entirely up to Your Lordships.”
Following the statement, the five-judge bench reportedly had an internal discussion and CJI Gogoi later announced that Justice UU Lalit had decided to recuse himself from hearing the matter even though the mentioned case of Kalyan Singh is unrelated to the merits in the Ayodhya case.
In another development, the court also reportedly stated that there is a history regarding the correctness of translated documents pertaining to the case and the registry has been directed to engage official translators to submit a report regarding the same.
#RamMandir – #BabriMasjid: There is a history regarding correctness of translation of documents, Registry directed to engage official translators and submit a report regarding correctness of translated documents, Supreme Court. #AyodhyaRamMandir
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) January 10, 2019
The matter has been adjourned till January 29. The CJI has reportedly announced that the bench will be reconstituted to fill the place of Justice UU Lalit in a bench that also has the CJI and justices, SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, and NV Ramana.
The Ram Mandir case is of deep socio-cultural relevance to Hindus and it has been pending in the SC for a long time. In 2010, the Allahabad HC had ordered that the disputed land be divided into three parts between Ram Lalla Virajman, the Nirmohi Akhada, and the Sunni Waqf Board.
Hindu groups have been demanding the central government to bring forth an ordinance to build the temple. But PM Narendra Modi had clarified in a recent interview that his government will wait for the law to take its course and he is ‘willing to do what is needed’ after the legal process is over.
