Ayodhya judgment should be read in courts to prevent claims against mosques: Justice Nariman
New Delhi: Justice Rohinton Nariman, former Supreme Court judge, has urged that the five pages of the Supreme Court's Ayodhya judgment affirming the Places of Worship Act, 1991, be read in every District Court and High Court across India. He stated that this would prevent frivolous suits against mosques and other religious structures.
Speaking at the inaugural lecture of the Ahmadi Foundation, established in memory of former Chief Justice of India Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi, Justice Nariman described the Ayodhya verdict as a "travesty of justice to secularism." However, he identified the segment upholding the 1991 Act as a "silver lining."
"The Constitution Bench spends five pages on the Places of Worship Act and declares it to be sound in secularism, which is part of the basic structure of our Constitution. You cannot look backward; you have to look forward," Justice Nariman emphasised.
These five pages, he suggested, could serve as a critical tool to address the rising number of cases targeting mosques and shrines across the country.
Since 2019, numerous civil suits have been filed, particularly in northern India, demanding the restoration of temples allegedly destroyed in the past to build mosques. A recent example is the Sambhal Jamia Masjid case, where a civil court ordered a survey based on claims that a temple once stood on the mosque's site.
The 1991 Act prohibits the conversion of any place of worship and maintains the religious character of sites as they existed on August 15, 1947. It is currently under challenge in the Supreme Court. Justice Nariman referred to the Constitution Bench's Ayodhya judgment, which hailed the Act as "a legislative instrument designed to protect secular values."
"The law imposes a non-derogable obligation to uphold our constitutional commitment to secularism," the Supreme Court had observed in its 2019 ruling.
Justice Nariman reiterated the importance of the Act, stating, "It freezes the places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947. To prevent further claims, the law must be implemented as outlined in the judgment."
He added, "We see hydra heads popping up all over the country with suit after suit concerning mosques and shrines. The only way to cauterise this is by applying those five pages of the Ayodhya judgment in courts nationwide."
He further remarked on the quid pro quo judicial appointments, commenting on the case of the judge who acquitted all accused in the Babri Masjid demolition criminal conspiracy case, saying, "That judge was appointed as the UP Lokayukta after retirement. That is the 'state of affairs' in the country.”
The lecture was part of the Ahmadi Foundation’s inaugural event, where a biography titled The Fearless Judge, chronicling Justice Ahmadi's life, was also released.
Justice Nariman concluded by expressing confidence that proper implementation of the Places of Worship Act would curtail unnecessary litigation and uphold secular principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
